A Lion Attacking a Stag

George Stubbs, between 1765 and 1766

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Artist: George Stubbs (British, 1724–1806)
Medium: Oil on canvas
Size: 96 × 131 inches (243.8 × 332.7 cm)
Museum: Yale Center for British Art
Rights: CC0 — no rights reserved

Like its companion A Lion Attacking a Horse (shown nearby), this painting was commissioned by Charles WatsonWentworth, second Marquess of Rockingham, to hang in the Green Room of his London residence in Grosvenor Square. The monumental scale of both works effectively elevated animal painting to the status of history painting, the highest genre of academic art.

In addition, by taking on the themes of a lion devouring a horse and a lion attacking a stag, Stubbs was consciously participating in an artistic tradition dating back millennia. The frieze-like arrangement of the animals in A Lion Attacking a Stag recalls especially the art of classical antiquity, particularly ancient coinage where the motif of a lion preying on a stag was often used to symbolize a ruler’s power. Both paintings retain their original frames.

Text: Yale Center for British Art.