Studio of George Stubbs (British 1724-1806) Shark and his trainer Price in a river landscape Oil on canvas Inscribed Shark 4 years old lower left 83.5 x 102cm (32¾ x 40 in.) Provenance: Sale, Sotheby's, London, The Racing Sale, 12 November 1997, lot 233 (sold for £23,000) Private Collection, Jo Wood The primary version of this painting by Stubbs, dated 1775, is held at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts. Shark was one of the most important Arabian stallions from which English thoroughbred racing stock is descended. Foaled in 1771, Shark had a successful racing career before being exported to America where he became an important sire at a stud in Virginia.