The Norfolk Spaniel, which no longer exists as a pure breed, was used by sportsmen to spring and retrieve game from water. George Stubbs presents the animal as the slightly melancholy hero of its own watery world, looming like a giant over riverbanks, water plants, and weeping willow.
如今已经不再有纯种的诺福克猎犬了，曾经狩猎者会让它们从水里捕猎打捞猎物。乔治-斯塔布斯（George Stubbs）把这只动物描绘成它自己的水世界里略带多愁善感的英雄，像一个巨人在河岸草地和垂柳下若隐若现。
George Stubbs was an English painter, best known for his paintings of horses. Self-trained, Stubbs learnt his skills independently from other great artists of the 18th century, such as Reynolds or Gainsborough. Stubbs' output includes history paintings, but his greatest skill was in painting animals, perhaps influenced by his love and study of anatomy. His most famous work is probably Whistlejacket, a painting of a prancing horse commissioned by the 2nd Marquess of Rockingham, which is now in the National Gallery in London. This and two other paintings carried out for Rockingham break with convention in having plain backgrounds. Stubbs also painted more exotic animals including lions, tigers, giraffes, monkeys, and rhinoceroses, which he was able to observe in private menageries.
乔治-斯塔布斯是一位英国画家，以精心描绘的马驰名于世。斯塔布斯自学成才，独自学习其他十八世纪伟大艺术家的技巧，如雷诺兹（Renolds）和庚斯博罗（Gainsborough）。斯塔布斯的作品包括历史画，但他最大的本领是画动物，这可能是受他对解剖学的热爱和研究的影响。他最著名的作品是《哨子》，这是一幅受罗金汉姆侯爵二世委托画的一匹奔跑的马，现存于伦敦国家美术馆。这幅画和另外两幅为罗金汉创作的画作打破了传统，采用了素色背景。斯塔布斯还画了更多的异国动物，包括狮子、老虎、长颈鹿、猴子和犀牛，这些都是他在私人动物园观察到的。
We present today's work thanks to Yale Center for British Art.
感谢耶鲁大学英国艺术中心与我们分享今天的画作。
