De slaande schimmel
c. 1660 - c. 1665
Medium
oil on panel
Dimensions
48.9; 36.9; 4.3
About this artwork
outer size: depth 4.3 cm (support incl. frame)
Art Historical Context
Philips Wouwerman’s *De slaande schimmel* (The Rearing Gray) captures a moment of equine energy typical of Dutch Golden Age painting. Created around 1660–1665, the small oil-on-panel work reflects the prosperity and artistic refinement of the seventeenth-century Netherlands, when collectors eagerly sought lively scenes of daily life and the countryside. Wouwerman, celebrated for his masterful horse paintings, frequently placed animals at the center of his compositions, using their movement to animate otherwise peaceful landscapes. Painted on a smooth wooden panel, the medium allowed Wouwerman...
About the Artist
Philips Wouwerman
Specialized in military and hunting scenes in which horses are prominent. Son of a little known painter in Alkmaar, Paul Joosten Wouwerman. Philips died at the age of 48 reportedly as the result of an accident, having created a large number of landscapes, battle scenes and the elegant life of his time, set in castles, parties, hunting, huntsmen and prized horses.