Lion and Lioness

George Stubbs, 1724–1806

1770

Enamel on copper

Yale Center for British Art

George Stubbs produced this enamel painting of a lion and lioness, which remained in his studio until his death. George Stubbs produced several experimental enamels on copper in the late 1760s and early 1770s. Enamel painting was usually the preserve of miniature painters, but Stubbs gradually began using the technique for full-sized paintings. This offended the Royal Academy and occasioned a dispute with Stubbs over the poor hanging of his enamels in an exhibition in 1782. This example, a lion and lioness, remained in Stubbs’s studio until the contents were sold after his death in 1807. Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection