Photo: Donatello. Equestrian Statue of Gattamelata. 1453, Bronze. Piazza del Santo, Padua, Italy.
With the discovery of the Lascaux Caves came the new knowledge that equestrian art dates back to 17,000-15,000 BCE (Groeneveld). Looking at the dates that go back to before the common era shows the significance of equestrian art on humans, and that artists have always been fascinated by equestrian art.
Photo: Chinese Horse. 15,000-13,000 BCE Lascaux Cave, Dordogne, France.
Horses have always been the source of curiosity for many artists who have then gone on to create some amazing pieces of art and have had an impact on communities that they might not even be in. Equestrian art is a great way of bringing people together (especially since horses were used more than cars for a long time) and forming new bonds.
One famous equestrian painter is George Stubbs. George Stubbs, born 1724, was an English painter best known for his paintings of horses. He was associated with horses at an early age with his father working as a currier and leather seller (Prown, page 32). This early bonding led to an interest in these animals, specifically through two ways: anatomical studies, and painting.
Photo: Stubbs, George. Self-Portait. 1781, enamel on Wedgwood plaque. National Portrait Gallery.
He had many sponsors who sponsored him to paint their horses. He was very dedicated in this approach, and really enjoyed working on these paintings.
Photo: Stubbs, George. Portrait of Joseph Smyth Esquire, Lieutenant of Whittlebury Forest. 1762-1764, Cambridge, The Syndics of the Fitzwilliam Museum, University of Cambridge
However, something else that he enjoyed was anatomical studies of horses. Since his dad was a currier, he was introduced to the harsh realities of animal slaughter (Stubbs). He was around bones and organs from his fathers tannery, and he would draw these items and even create dissections of horses (Stubbs). While having a professional artistic career, he was simultaneously studying anatomy at York College and providing lectures for the students as well (Prown, page 32). While in York College, he came up with the idea of fully focusing on studying solely equine anatomy (“George Stubbs Obsession - the Anatomy of a Horse”). In 1756, Stubbs retired to a rural village in Horkstow, North Lincolnshire where he dissected horses to study their anatomies (Prown, page 32).
Stubbs would take and kill older horses for these dissections. It was done this way, because it was impossible to store and transport horses who died of natural causes during the 18th century (“George Stubbs Obsession - the Anatomy of a Horse”). Stubbs would take these animals apart layer by layer and worked an average of six to seven weeks on one carcass (“George Stubbs Obsession - the Anatomy of a Horse”). Having a deep immersion within this field showed that Stubbs was more of an anatomist than a painter (Prown, page 33). In 1766, 10 years after the start of this project, Stubbs came out of this experience with a published book, The Anatomy of the Horse.
Photo: Stubbs, George. 1766. The Anatomy of the Horse. United States, Dover Publications, 2012.
This book contained anatomical tables of the horse written in a list order with 18 illustrated tables (Stubbs). It has been recognized as an important publication within the equestrian world and the art world (Stubbs). The book “stands as a major scientific achievement, the first systematic and correct study of equine anatomy since the Renaissance,” (Prown, page 33). This shows the impact and influence that this book has.
Stubbs, George. Seventh Anatomical Table of The Horse. Retrieved from The Anatomy of the Horse. United States, Dover Publications, 2012.
With the book and the study of anatomy, Stubbs’ art really flourished (Prown, page 33). Everybody loved his works because of their accuracy in relation to the animals themselves. At the time, Stubbs was only known as an equestrian painter. He really impacted the art world, but, through his anatomical tables, he played an incredibly large role in the science world as well.
Another artist who played an important role within the art world was Eadweard Muybridge. Eadweard Muybridge, born 1830, grew famous for his photography work, specifically of his large panoramic landscape photographs in Yosemite Valley in California and of San Francisco (Papacosta, page 16).
Through the fame of his landscape photography, he got to be very well-known within the field of photography which led him to many commissions and patrons. He was commissioned by Leland Stanford to photograph Stanford’s horses. Stanford, who aspired to breed the greatest racehorses (trotters), was also involved in the anatomical study of the horse and wanted Muybridge to photograph his horse Occident (Premeaux).
Photo: Muybridge, Eadweard. Cloud's Rest, Valley of the Yosemite. 1872, albumen.
At the time, Stanford was involved in a bet on whether a horse had all four feet off of the ground at any point during a trot. There are many reasons why Stanford got involved. One of the most popular was that there was a bet involved between him and Frederick MacCrellish (Premeaux as cited in Clark; Haas; Hood & Haas; MacDonnell). However, friends of his believed he was not a betting man and that he simply admires the beauty of equines, specifically his horse Occident, and would like to know more about them (Premeaux).
Stanford hired Muybridge to photograph Occident in the trot to settle this bet. At first, Muybridge said no, but was further convinced as he was a man who enjoyed a challenge (Premeaux). All that was needed was a silhouette to show the horse at any position with the four legs in view. To do this, Muybridge used a white background and a white track for the horse to go over (Premeaux). The white background was “constructed from white bed linen borrowed from all the neighborhoods around the racetrack” (Premeaux). Occident was trained to walk over the white fabric without fearing away from it (Premeaux).
Photo: Muybridge, Eadweard. Background. 1879, negative.
In 1877, after many trials and years of hardship, Muybridge successfully was able to produce a sharp image of Occident at full trotting speed (Premeaux). The photo was retouched to make it clearer and crisper, and many critics claimed that this retouch showed that the photo is actually a fake (Premeaux). Although retouching was common at that time, this type of photography was new (Premeaux). This meant that the critics did not believe that it was achievable to create motion photography (Premeaux).
Muybridge, Eadweard. Occident Owned by Leland Stanford. Driven by Jas. Tennant. 1877, cabinet card.
Due to this, in 1878, Stanford decided to invite reporters and other sportsmen to watch his two horses, Abe Edgington and Sallie Gardner, gallop by while Muybridge took their pictures (Premeaux). So, Muybridge set up a racetrack with a series of 12 cameras capable of taking instantaneous photographs (Atkins). As horses ran down the track, “they would trip a series of wires, which would quickly open and close the shutter of each camera successively” (Atkins). Muybridge was able to take a series of 12 photos, all taken within less than half a second (Premeaux).
Photo: Muybridge, Eadweard. View of the Twenty-Four Cameras in Position. 1882, Print. The Horse in Motion. by Stillman D. B., Jacob. Plate CVI.
Once the photos were taken, Stanford and Muybridge crowded the press into an on-site darkroom to take a look at the developing photos (Premeaux). After twenty minutes, the visitors were able to see the photos and all doubts about the authenticity of the photographs were finally dispelled (Premeaux).
Photo: Muybridge, Eadweard. The Horse in Motion. 1878, albumen printed on card.
During a time “when photography was still an arcane art, Muybridge was a master” (Clegg, page ix). With these experiments, Muybridge was able to “bridge the gap between art, science, and technology with his... motion photographs,” (Clegg, page ix). His work on motion picture photography was groundbreaking, and impacted the world of photography to this day (Clegg, page ix).
Between George Stubbs and Eadweard Muybridge, the art world and the equestrian world flourished. Each individual contributed incredibly important advancements within two different fields. For Stubbs, his book, was a “groundbreaking publication” that “became the work of reference in the field of equine anatomy” (“George Stubbs Obsession - the Anatomy of a Horse”). Artists, animal lovers, veterinarians, and anatomists all gratefully made use of it, and It impacted their knowledge of these animals and how they can help them (“George Stubbs Obsession - the Anatomy of a Horse”).
Stubbs, George. The Anatomy of The Horse. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, plates.
Regarding Eadweard Muybridge, his production of motion-picture photography was extraordinarily innovative. For one thing, his “photographic trip-wire experiments had revealed the true movement of the horse at the canter and the gallop, which astonishingly no one had realized before from observation” (Baskett, page 29). At a time when photography was still a new source of art, Muybridge was able to utilize it and develop something new in order to capture something never before seen.
Muybridge, Eadweard. Jumping Horse, Rider. 1880, photo. Fine Art Los Angeles Collection.
In the end, it is definitely apparent that George Stubbs was influential on the veterinary/science world and Eadweard Muybridge was influential on the art/photography world. They each created something amazing that was able to influence each relative field. Through their work, they were able to change and readapt the equestrian and the art world through important discoveries that are still apparent to this day. These equestrian artists creatively showed the world many new possibilities for going into the future.