George Stubbs

<div class=Section1><p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify'><span style='font-size:11.0pt'>Thisbiography of George Stubbs leading eighteenth century English animal painter <spanstyle='mso-bidi-font-style:italic'>is </span>"imagined" becausevirtually nothing <span style='mso-bidi-font-style:italic'>is </span>known ofhis character or private life. Historian Merritt <span class=SpellE>Abrash</span>has combined his knowledge of eighteenth century </span><st1:country-region><st1:place><span style='font-size:11.0pt'>Great Britain</span></st1:place></st1:country-region><spanstyle='font-size:11.0pt'> with the facts of Stubbs' artistic career and theevidence of his paintings <span style='mso-bidi-font-style:italic'>in </span>orderto create stories providing insights <span style='mso-bidi-font-style:italic'>into</span>the kind of man the artist might have been. The fifty stories consist ofepisodes imaginary but not impossible which present Stubbs at differentmoments of life from the confidence strivings and adventures of youth to thedoubts fears and deeper understandings of old age. <span style='mso-bidi-font-style:italic'>His </span>interactions with fellow artists--Gainsborough ReynoldsTurner Blake and others less famous--are often contentious and encounterswith prominent contemporaries such as Dr. Johnson Gibbon Wesley and Smithtake surprising turns. Stories dealing with his independent-minded common-lawwife their son and personal friends reveal Stubbs experiencing both joy andgrief.' <span style='mso-bidi-font-style:italic'>His </span>character emergesas centered on the conviction that truth <span style='mso-bidi-font-style:italic'>is</span>to be found <span style='mso-bidi-font-style:italic'>in </span>therationally observed factuality of life yet occurrences <span style='mso-bidi-font-style:italic'>in </span>some episodes prove to be beyond factual explanation leadinghim instead to unexpected spiritual insights.<o:p></o:p></span></p></div>