George Stubbs - Mares and Foals in a River Landscape

The iconic painting 'Mares and Foals in a River Landscape' by George Stubbs is part of a group of paintings of mares and foals made between 1760 and 1769. The pictures are portraying specific mares, famous for their racing careers or their success as broodmares. It is said that Stubbs studied and drew the horses from life, and then later arranged his drawings for the perfect composition. Rumor has it that the artist first painted the horses in perfect detail on a blank background, before he added the landscape, which was probably imagined. The Mares and Foals paintings was exhibited at the Society of Artists and the Royal Academy between 1760 and 1770. Most of the pictures were commissions where the patrons included their own animals. That is not the case for this particular painting, possibly, the patron commissioning this painting liked the subject, but did not possess any broodmares himself.

There was no doubt we wanted to include this beautiful painting for our new placemats. The George Stubbs painting 'Mares and Foals in a River Landscape' on one side, with a frame in four different colours, and our galloping horse on the other side. They are handmade in Sweden out of FSC-certified wood.