A Sketch (Portrait of George Stubbs)

Art Historical Context

This etching, titled *A Sketch (Portrait of Stubbs)*, dates from the second half of the th century and offers an intimate likeness of the artist George Stubbs. Associated with James Bretherton Thomas Orde, Lord Bolton, and Stubbs himself, the work the collaborative practices common in printmaking at the, when sketches and portraits circulated among artists and publishers. Measuring just under eight by six inches on the plate, it was designed for close study or inclusion in a collector’s album. Etching, the medium used here, involves drawing through a protective ground on a metal plate so that acid can bite fine lines capable of holding ink. This process, widely practiced in 18th-century Britain, allowed artists to reproduce drawings with remarkable delicacy and to issue multiple impressions, spreading images of notable sitters far beyond a single painting. The modest scale and sketch-like quality of this print emphasize direct observation rather than formal grandeur. Now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Drawings and Prints collection, the etching was acquired through the Harris Brisbane Dick Fund in 1917. It provides a window onto the artistic networks of the period and the growing interest in portraying painters themselves as subjects worthy of record. Visitors can appreciate both the technical skill of the etcher and the cultural value placed on documenting the faces of those who shaped British art.