GEORGE STUBBS, R.A. 1 93 



Hall, and to Winstanley George Stubbs applied. 

 A copy of one of the artist's own pictures furnished 

 the necessary recommendation, and the young man 

 was forthwith accepted in the double capacity of 

 assistant and pupil. 



The engagement did not last long. Winstanley 

 refused to let Stubbs copy certain Old Masters in 

 the Knowsley collection, averring that he wished 

 to make the replicas himself Whereupon Stubbs' 

 independent and rather fiery temper was provoked, 

 and he summarily ended the connection, declaring 

 his intention to "look into Nature for himself and 

 copy her only," a resolution to which he adhered. 

 He appears to have practised modelling in these 

 early days, for it is recorded that the members of 

 the Liverpool Society for the Encouragement of 

 Arts awarded him a gold medal and compli- 

 mentary letter in acknowledgment of the model 

 of a horse which he executed and presented to 

 the Society. This model is the first evidence of 

 George Stubbs' wonderful talent for realising the 

 form of the horse. 



About 1744, when nearly twenty years of age, 

 Stubbs left his mother with whom he had hitherto 

 dwelt, and after a few months' stay at Wigan went 

 to Leeds. Here he applied himself to portrait- 

 painting for a time, and then, having received 

 some commissions for pictures, betook himself to 



13 VOL. II. 



