Portrait of George Fothergill
This newly identified painting is one of the earliest known portraits by George Stubbs. His reputation as an animal painter has made him one of the greatest of all English artists. According to the famous Humphrey manuscript Stubbs was active as a portrait painter firstly in Leeds c.1744, then in York and lastly near Hull. After his return from Italy Stubbs worked on his Anatomy of the Horse in a farmhouse near Horkstow in Lincolnshire, on the other side of the River Humber to Hull. Only three pictures can be assigned to this shadowy period. One is the Ferens' picture. The second is the double portrait of Sir John and Lady Nelthorpe, still in the family collection at Scawby Hall, Lincolnshire. The third is the portrait of the young Sir John Nelthorpe, also at Scawby. In order to attribute the painting to Stubbs, comparison has to be made with the one other painting by him of the same type as the Ferens' work. This is the Portrait of Mr Stanley of Liverpool (Liverpool, Walker Art Gallery). The treatment of the face is somewhat similar in the two paintings and such details as the highlights in the eyes are identical. The elaborate inscription is also very similar to Stubbs' careful hand. George Fothergill was a bachelor member of a prominent York family of nonjurors. He died in York in 1770 and is stated to be 57 years old on the painting, hence the inferred date of 1746.
