George Stubbs | The anatomy of the horse. London, 1766, a ground-breaking study of equine anatomy by one of the greatest artists of the eighteenth century - photo 1
George Stubbs | The anatomy of the horse. London, 1766, a ground-breaking study of equine anatomy by one of the greatest artists of the eighteenth century - photo 2
George Stubbs | The anatomy of the horse. London, 1766, a ground-breaking study of equine anatomy by one of the greatest artists of the eighteenth century - photo 3
George Stubbs | The anatomy of the horse. London, 1766, a ground-breaking study of equine anatomy by one of the greatest artists of the eighteenth century - photo 4

George Stubbs | The anatomy of the horse. London, 1766, a ground-breaking study of equine anatomy by one of the greatest artists of the eighteenth century

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£ 9 525
Auction dateClassic
28.11.2023 14:00UTC +01:00
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Sotheby´s
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United Kingdom, London
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ID 1076605
Lot 82 | George Stubbs | The anatomy of the horse. London, 1766, a ground-breaking study of equine anatomy by one of the greatest artists of the eighteenth century
George Stubbs

The anatomy of the horse, including a particular description of the bones, cartilages, muscles, fascias, ligaments, nerves, arteries, veins, and glands. London: J. Purser for the Author, 1766

FIRST EDITION, EARLY ISSUE, oblong folio (457 x 584mm.), 24 engraved plates, text and plates mounted on guards, bound to style in eighteenth-century half russia over eighteenth-century marbled paper-covered boards, raised bands, spine gilt in compartments, red morocco label, text lightly washed and pressed, expert repairs to margins of title page, preface, and three other leaves

“A LANDMARK IN THE HISTORY BOTH OF ANATOMY AND OF ART” (Ray). This copy is the most desirable issue with plates printed on laid paper, used for this 1766 first issue and for most other copies published during Stubbs’ lifetime. The engravings on laid paper have a precision and crispness lacking in the later impressions on wove paper.

A largely self-taught artist who had been intrigued by anatomy and drawing from nature at an early age, George Stubbs (1724-1806) created these remarkable images over a period of eighteen months, during which he painstakingly dissected several horses, using hooks and tackle to suspend the bodies from a barn ceiling in order to pose the beast “in a seemingly natural attitude, its hooves resting upon a plank” (ODNB). Unable to find a suitable engraver, Stubbs taught himself the technique, and produced the engravings over the next six years. The plates document all layers of equine anatomy, revealing in succession the muscles, fascia, ligaments, nerves, arteries, veins, glands, cartilages, and skeleton. His grisly process, Ray notes, “may have given offence” but “the fine exactness and austere truth of his engravings give them a timeless beauty”.

Stubbs’ bibliographer, Christopher Lennox-Boyd, observes that the work “remained the standard authority on the subject for nearly a century… It is entirely appropriate to rank The Anatomy of the Horse with Thomas Pennant’s British Zoology (1770, see lot ***) and Gilbert White’s Natural History of Selbourne (1789), among the most important of the several works of this time which, by emphasising the importance of precise systematic observation, revolutionised men’s understanding of the natural world”. While the copies with plates on wove paper are not uncommon in the marketplace, early issues such as this one are increasingly difficult to find.
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28.11.2023
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