John & Sophia Musters out riding 1777, Stubbs, George (1724-1806)

Painted in 1777, John and Sophia Musters out Riding, is one of George Stubbs's most intimate and accomplished portraits — a scene of aristocratic leisure rendered with the anatomical precision and quiet grandeur that made Stubbs the undisputed master of the horse in 18th-century Britain. Sophia, resplendent in her scarlet riding habit, rides alongside her husband against a sweeping English landscape of pale stone architecture, dramatic clouds, and deep green parkland. Horses, hounds, and figures are composed with the ease of a painter utterly in command of his subject. It is a painting about wealth, beauty, and the pleasures of the English countryside — and it has never looked better than it does now.

Restoration & Remastering

Like many 18th-century oils, the original had suffered the inevitable toll of time: a warm brown haze of yellowed varnish, flattened contrast, and colours dulled to a shadow of their original intensity. Our restoration and remastering process was guided by a single question: what might this painting have looked like when Stubbs first stepped back from the easel in 1777?

• Yellowing removed — the age-related brown haze was neutralized, recovering the cooler sky blues, clean cloud tones, and pale stone of the architecture
• Contrast restored — riders, horses, dogs, and building were lifted from the flattened background; figures now read with clarity and depth
• Colour saturation recovered — Sophia's riding habit returned to a rich scarlet; the chestnut horse regained its warm copper tones; the black horse became a true deep black
• Atmospheric perspective clarified — distant trees, the horizon line, and the building gained legibility and depth without artificial sharpening
• Cloud structure enhanced — Stubbs loved a dramatic sky; we added volume and luminosity to the clouds so the sky feels three-dimensional and theatrical
• Horse anatomy sharpened — muscle groups, necks, shoulders, and hindquarters gained subtle modelling, honouring Stubbs's famous anatomical accuracy
• Fabric and figure detail improved — the folds of Sophia's red riding dress now catch light convincingly, giving her greater visual presence
• Animal detail enriched — the hounds gained fur texture; horse coats gained sheen; eyes and facial features became more expressive

Throughout, we resisted the temptation to oversaturate, add artificial texture, or push the image toward hyper-realism. The result still feels unmistakably Stubbs — but with the clarity, colour, and impact the painting deserves.

Elliott Best Originals are printed on premium archival museum stock for the finest colour fidelity and longevity.