The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of December 18, 2025

A Sleeping Leopard

1791

George Stubbs

(British, 1724–1806)
publisher

George Stubbs

(British, 1724–1806)
England, 18th century
Soft-ground etching with roulette work
Image and Plate: 18 x 23.7 cm (7 1/16 x 9 5/16 in.); Sheet: 18.4 x 24 cm (7 1/4 x 9 7/16 in.)
Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund 1980.90
Catalogue raisonné: Taylor 18; Lennox-Boyd, Dixon, & Clayton 91
Location: Not on view

Did You Know?

George Stubbs carefully studied the different animals he depicted and even published a book on the anatomy of the horse.

Description

A famed animal painter, George Stubbs studied anatomy and likely had access to one of London’s various menageries, where he could view animals kept as curiosities and brought to England from across the globe. Here, Stubbs used innovative printmaking techniques to capture the roughness of the tree bark, the rocky surface of the ground, and the softness of the leopard’s fur. Stubbs was one of the earliest artists to experiment with soft-ground etching, which allowed him to re-create texture by transferring his image onto a printing plate through an actual drawing.
  • ?–1980
    (P. & D. Colnaghi & Co., Ltd., London, England), sold to The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
    September 9, 1980–
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • Lee, Sherman E. “The Year in Review for 1980.” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 68, no. 6 (June 1981): 163–219. Reproduced: p. 192; Mentioned: p. 217, no. 240 www.jstor.org
  • Imagination in the Age of Reason. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (September 28, 2024-March 2, 2025).
    The Birth and Flowering of British Romantic Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (May 1-July 22, 1990).
    Two Hundred Years of British Prints. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (October 9, 1984-February 3, 1985).
    Year in Review: 1980. The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer) (June 24-July 19, 1981).
  • {{cite web|title=A Sleeping Leopard|url=false|author=George Stubbs, George Stubbs|year=1791|access-date=18 December 2025|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1980.90