Masete de Normandie

Art Historical Context

"Masete de Normandie" is a finely detailed engraving by Charles Errard le fils that captures the quiet strength and elegance of a Norman horse. The work belongs to the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Department of Drawings and Prints, where it entered the collection as part of the 2011 bequest of Phyllis Massar. Although the precise date remains unknown, the print reflects the long-standing European tradition of portraying regional horse breeds with both scientific interest and artistic sensitivity. Engraving allowed artists like Errard to reproduce subtle textures—such as the sheen of a coat or the tension in a muscle—with remarkable precision, making such images widely accessible to collectors and scholars. The subject, identified simply by its tags as “Horses,” invites viewers to appreciate the animal’s role in seventeenth- and eighteenth-century French rural life, where Norman horses were prized for their endurance and versatility. Today the print offers modern audiences a glimpse into historical attitudes toward animals and the natural world. Its modest scale—roughly eight by nine inches—encourages intimate viewing, rewarding close attention to the careful line work that brings the horse’s form to life.