George Stubbs (British, 1724-1806) A Cheetah and a Stag with two Indian servants.
George Stubbs' original is in the Manchester City Art Gallery. The cheetah in George Stubbs' "Cheetah and Stag with two Indians" was called "Miss Jenny" and was brought to Britain as a gift for King George III from George Pigot, Governor of Madras. Easily tamed and trained, cheetahs had been used as hunting animals by the Mogul Emperors for hundreds of years. In the sixteenth century, Akbar the Great was said to have kept a thousand of them for that purpose, much as the English gentry kept foxhounds. Its subject is based on a story about HRH The Duke of Cumberland releasing a cheetah with a stag in an enclosure at Windsor Great Park to watch how cheetahs kill their prey. The Duke of Cumberland organised the demonstration in Windsor Great Park for 30 June 1764. Stubbs shows an Indian servant who has raised the cheetah's hood and is ready to release it as another servant directs its attention to a stag in an imaginary landscape. The stag repulsed two attempts and then took to the offensive, chasing the cheetah. After the stag had vanquished the cheetah, Cumberland gave instructions that particular care should be taken of the stag that so bravely defended himself against the cheetah, and he ordered a large silver collar to be put around the stag's head for his distinction and greater safety. The stag would henceforth lead a protected existence, harassed by neither man nor beast.
George Stubbs' original is in the Manchester City Art Gallery. The cheetah in George Stubbs' "Cheetah and Stag with two Indians" was called "Miss Jenny" and was brought to Britain as a gift for King George III from George Pigot, Governor of Madras. Easily tamed and trained, cheetahs had been used as hunting animals by the Mogul Emperors for hundreds of years. In the sixteenth century, Akbar the Great was said to have kept a thousand of them for that purpose, much as the English gentry kept foxhounds. Its subject is based on a story about HRH The Duke of Cumberland releasing a cheetah with a stag in an enclosure at Windsor Great Park to watch how cheetahs kill their prey. The Duke of Cumberland organised the demonstration in Windsor Great Park for 30 June 1764. Stubbs shows an Indian servant who has raised the cheetah's hood and is ready to release it as another servant directs its attention to a stag in an imaginary landscape. The stag repulsed two attempts and then took to the offensive, chasing the cheetah. After the stag had vanquished the cheetah, Cumberland gave instructions that particular care should be taken of the stag that so bravely defended himself against the cheetah, and he ordered a large silver collar to be put around the stag's head for his distinction and greater safety. The stag would henceforth lead a protected existence, harassed by neither man nor beast.