Stubbs and the Hunters
Until October 2; Hunterian Art Gallery, Glasgow

There are two things worth knowing about the Hunterian Gallery’s latest exhibition, Stubbs and the Hunters, right from the start. One is that hunters of the shooting, gathering kind have nothing to do with it; the Hunters in question are two anatomically inclined brothers of the 18th century, after whom the Hunterian was named.

The other thing you should know is that the exhibition is very small. In fact, it’s little more than a cubby hole in the middle of the Whistler display. Three of the Hunterian’s paintings are reunited with three from the Royal College of Surgeons of England, along with a handful of drawings, prints and tangentially-related curios.

John and William Hunter, born in East Kilbride, were surgeon and physician to the royal family. Important Enlightenment figures, they owned their own menagerie of animals which they investigated with scientific rigour. George Stubbs shared their passion for anatomical study, and as well as buying his paintings, the Hunter brothers also commissioned him to record their weird and wonderful assortment of animals.

While Stubbs is best known for his graceful examples of horses and dogs, the selection here includes two moose (of differing age), a rhinoceros, two varieties of Indian antelope, a yak, a drill and an albino baboon. These are faithful depictions of animals in full profile, serving first and foremost as scientific illustrations.

The pictures are in desperate need of a clean, such that the huge yak is a vast expanse of unmodulated black; only its feet and eyes prevent the animal from posing as a rug hanging on a Himalayan washing line. Those without fanciful backgrounds fare better – one delicate little blackbuck stands alone in an empty canvas, creating a striking image which appeals to the modern eye.

The most astounding of the paintings is that of the monkeys. Darwin’s Origin of the Species was not to be published for another 60 years, but already in 1799 Stubbs was apparently making direct comparisons between apes and men.

John Hunter commissioned this picture of his monkeys. A dark bearded drill balances on two feet with the aid of a walking stick, his left arm gesticulating in the air as if he is pontificating. His gender is not in any question, as his bright pink genitalia is on full display. Beside him a bare-faced albino baboon sits hunched, self-absorbed, like a white-haired old man who’s seen it all before.

It’s hard to believe that Stubbs’s contemporaries could look at such a picture and not wonder about the origin of their species.

Catrìona Black, Sunday Herald 27.06.04