Unknown - Landscape with Men and Horses - Original China Ink and Watercolor - Early 1800

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Landscape with men and horses is a beautiful ink and pencil drawing. Due to the concerned subject matter and the … Read more Landscape with men and horses is a beautiful ink and pencil drawing. Due to the concerned subject matter and the typology of the image, it is assumed that this original artwork was made at the turn of the 19th century. The author signed the work on the lower left, but his or her name is partially unreadable; rebus sic stantibus, it is impossible to know his or her identity. The signature is an inscription that seems written in pencil and then traced over with ink. The first letter, in pencil, is an F.; the rest of the inscription is hard to understand. After the signature, on the right corner of the paper, a stamp is printed with an undecipherable trademark. The state of preservation is very good, except for the missing higher left corner of the paper sheet. The work was drawn following an Impressionist taste, albeit in the monochromic shades of the graphite. The subject matter is in part enigmatic: it represents two herdsmen getting off a small boat with horses on a swampy land. The two characters wear big hats and smoke pipes. A third person, with different hat and high trousers to walk in the water, maybe the ferryman, is taking care of a third horse with yoke. In the foreground, a dog is half immersed in the water getting closer to the shore. On the background, a camping tent and two figures, one of which is wearing a plumed hat. This scene is very pleasant, realized with the great expressive skills of the author. It could be defined a romantic and rustic vision, perhaps a scene of everyday life in Latin America, with a gaucho and indigenous characters. See less