17th Century Oil on Canvas in the School of Philips Wouwerman

Details

Description

Philips Wouwerman, a prolific painter of equestrian scenes, hailed from Haarlem, where he was baptized on May 24, 1619. The … Read more Philips Wouwerman, a prolific painter of equestrian scenes, hailed from Haarlem, where he was baptized on May 24, 1619. The eldest of three sons born to the painter Pouwels Joosten and Susanna van den Bogert, Pouwels’ fourth wife, Wouwerman probably first learned to paint from his father. According to his earliest biographer, Cornelis de Bie, he was then apprenticed to Hals, Frans.Wouwerman also may have received some training in the representation of horses from the Haarlem artist Pieter Verbeeck (1610/1615–1652/1654).[2] was an extraordinarily productive artist. More than a thousand paintings bear his name, though only a small number are dated, making it difficult to establish a chronology of his work. Attribution issues also exist because a number of studio works and copies were made by his brother Pieter Wouwerman (1623–1682). Wouwerman’s oeuvre consists predominantly of small cabinet paintings of equestrian subjects, such as battle or hunting scenes, army camps, and smithies.

We have now had a couple other canvases in the Phillips Wellerman school, which we love for their portrayals of figures and especially horses against landscape grounds. In a scene, local figures are picked out as well as the horseman and their horses. We know that the artist was fond of these rather luminous white horses set in his scenes, which are best viewed in person for their delicate detail. See less