#the sublime
George Stubbs, A Horse Frightened by Lightening, 1770, oil on canvas. Stubbs is beloved today for his anatomical accuracy and majestic depiction of horses. However, during the eighteenth century such paintings were low on the hierarchy and could not match the History Painting, a class drenched with emotion and drama, with deep roots in the worshipped renaissance and classical tradition . In many of Stubb’s paintings you can see him posing and freezing his creatures in a moment of tension or violence, almost mirroring the explosive mythical elements of a history painting. As well as this here we see him capturing the Sublime, by reflecting the awe inspiring and terrifying power of nature through the horse’s fight for survival.
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Caspar David Friedrich, Two Men Contemplating the Moon (1830) / Vampire Weekend, Unbelievers (2013)
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