The British painter George Stubbs (1724–1806) was devoted to the natural world. Born in Liverpool, the son of a leatherworker, he began studying anatomy in childhood, drawing dogs, birds, and even lions. Later, as his contemporary Ozias Humphry noted, Stubbs went to Italy in 1754 “to convince himself that nature was and is always superior to art whether Greek or Roman, and having renewed this conviction he immediately resolved upon returning home.” The horse became his métier. In 1756, Stubbs rented a farmhouse in Horkstow, where he spent 18 months doing equine dissections—a level of study that would come to define his work. To this day, Stubbs is regarded as having created the most technically exact portraits of horses ever made. His only life-size equestrian portrait—Scrub, painted circa 1762— is now going on view. It has been on public display only once before. —Elena Clavarino