NEVER work with children or animals, so the saying goes – advice largely ignored by the readers of this magazine. It’s particularly apt when trying to immortalise an animal at its most delightful in a portrait. Whereas a camera affords infinite attempts to nail the perfect shot, capturing one representation of a horse in oil paints or bronze ramps up the challenge.
The internet is rife with picture-perfect pet portraits in crayons and coloured pencils: email a photo of your pet’s head, job done. It looks exactly like the “sitter”, but perhaps a trifle too perfect, just a photo in another form. The great Stubbs and Munnings were creating their masterpieces before the camera was in common use, but would they have used photos if they lived in this era? Would their paintings have danced with life, colour and light in the same way?
Photography has of course revolutionised the way artists can work, but there are some who persist in starting out with the real, living, breathing – and kicking – subject in an attempt to imbue the two-dimensional portrait with a heartbeat.
UP-and-coming talent Madeleine Bunbury (pictured with her muse, ex-racer Ernest) models herself “100% on George Stubbs”, as is evident from her series of large canvases with rich, shiny coated horses set against muted khaki backgrounds à la Whistlejacket. Madeleine tries to paint exclusively from life.
This story is from the November 04, 2021 edition of Horse & Hound.
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This story is from the November 04, 2021 edition of Horse & Hound.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
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