"Plains Zebra," by George Stubbs

In the 1760s, a live zebra arrived in England — an almost mythical creature to Georgian eyes — and George Stubbs was there to document it. With the same anatomical obsession and unflinching precision he brought to every animal he encountered, Stubbs produced one of the most celebrated natural history portraits of the Enlightenment: bold stripes, alert presence, and the quiet drama of an extraordinary creature rendered with complete scientific and artistic authority.