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Movement had a great appeal to Baroque painters, and the poses Rubens
selected for the horse in his art work certainly displayed complete mastery.
Small scale battle scenes were popular themes in the 17th century as can be
seen in the works of Jacques Courtois, Philips Wouwermans and Jan Wyck.
Normally the horse as portrayed in their art works, being of small scale,
did not require great detail – in fact the battle scenes were not based on
reality or historical engagements.
Caravaggio certainly captured the
drama of the age with his brilliant chiaroscuro. Caravaggio’s painting of St
Paul’s Journey to Damascus is linked under illustrations on this page.
Le Brun’s style of painting might be unfashionable today, but was
delightfully in tune with the Baroque period. His patron’s included
Chancellor Seguier ( a riding school master), Cardinal Barberini and Pope
Urban VIII, then later in life Louis XIV.
In many art works of the day, much more importance was placed on the horse
than in previous time periods.
In painting the favorite pony Prince Balthasar Carlos, Diego Velasquez had
to work from the deceased and stuffed pony, it having already lived it’s
life. The horse in art was popular!
Stefano della Bella was an etcher and imitated the work of Callot, but his
love of animals, especially horses, infused the subject matter of his
prolific career and he portrayed many horses in many poses, including the
work horse.
The art works of Aelbert Cuyp and Philips Wouwermans were typical of the
Dutch style, and very naturalistic.
It was also during this time period that horse sporting art became a genre.
Horse racing as the subject of art works abounded under the patronage of the
British Tudor and house of Stuart, as well as Charles II. Owners of winning
horses commissioned portraits. Charles II established Newmarket as a center
of racing and Barb and Arab stallions were imported and crossed with the
local stock of England, giving rise eventually to the Thoroughbred horse.
The genre of sporting art continues to be popular today.
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