Equestrian Art Lecture from the 2004 USDF Convention Courtesy of German Dressage

A Perspective on Equestrian Art History from the 16^th to the 19^th Centuries

By Theresa Cosgrove, who has a Bachelor’s of Fine Arts from the University of Wisconsin, and did graduate studies at John F. Kennedy University’s Museum Studies program in San Francisco. She was also awarded a year-long Rotary International Graduate Fellowship to study art in France. She currently works for the Seattle Art Museum.

This was a slide lecture, so much of interest can not be shared by via notes, and only a portion of the information, that which can be described verbally, is shared here.

Art is a universal language, and serves as a means of recording the horse’s importance to the artist—we, the audience, were encouraged to let the artist speak to us.

Ms. Cosgrove divided her lecture into historical periods, beginning with the earliest representations of the horse in art. The first was the Marcus Aurelius Monument, which is the work of an anonymous sculptor and is the most complete statue from early Roman times. It shows a horse that is forward but overbent, moving actively into the bit. The emperor is at ease, sitting well into the horse, and is depicted as a genuine horseman, and not merely just posed upon a horse.

This was compared to the work of Donatello (1386 – 1466), who was sponsored by Cosimo Medici, and which featured individualism, drama and expression. In this statue, the rider wears long spurs, and the horse is shown in an ambling gait (similar to the pacing horse of today) which horses were carefully TAUGHT. Statues of this period strove to demonstrate military power.

The High Renaissance

The High Renaissance encompassed the early 15^th through the 16^th centuries and had a profound effect on art, serving as a bridge from the medieval to the modern. It represented accurate depiction together with a rediscovery of the classicism of the Greeks.

Andreas del Verrocchio was one of the early leaders, and was inspired by the Roman antiquities, as well as a study of nature. His approach was original, but was overshadowed by the works of his famous pupil, Leonardo daVinci.

Albrecht Dürer was both visually and intellectually articulate, and was influential in Germany and Northern Europe. He studied form and the DISCIPLINE of art, and brought his rational scientific mind to bear on the laws of nature, employing the aspects of harmony, proportion and beauty. He specialized in woodcuts and etchings in his printmaking shop in Nuremburg.

Baroque

The Baroque period followed the High Renaissance, with the sub-type of Mannerism originating in Italy which showed distorted poses, elongated figures and exaggerated mannerisms. In the Baroque style in general, canvases were generally involved, with brilliant color, and frescoes of battles scenes from distorted perspectives and/or more than one viewpoint—the later particularly representative of the work by Guilio Romano. The idea was to overwhelm the mind and to appeal to the viewer through the emotions.

The Bourgeouis Baroque was another sub-type originating in Germany and the Netherlands, which depicted domestic and/or more common scenes, and nobility, when portrayed, were in everyday dress, rather than in full regalia. A work by Thomas de Keyser was shown of middle class riders, and a work by Anthony van Dyck showing Charles I in full armour, but the horse was in preposterous proportions (with a massive body and tiny head) as compared to the rider, who looked pitifully weak in comparison. Phillip Wouveramans, another contemporary of the era, was known for his small landscapes, hunting pieces and battle scenes, all of which showed great detail of everyday life. Albert Cuyp was known for using dramatic lighting effects (as those used by the Italians), but employing them on typical Dutch subjects.

The Revolutionary Period

The Revolutionary Period began with Neoclassicism, which lasted from roughly 1750 – 1830, although its influence continues. In Neoclassicism, the ancient (real or imagined) was combined with modern ideas. A famous example is Johann George Von Hamilton who began by painting ancient buildings into modern landscapes, and later painted approximately life-sized portraits of famous studs in Great Britain before traveling to Vienna to paint portraits for the Spanish Riding School.

Neoclassicism gave way to Romanticism, which affected all branches of art, and which represented a reaction against order and reason. This occurred in the laste 18^th and early 19^th century. Eugéne Delacroix is a famous example, and we were shown a painting of 2 horses emerging from the sea (perhaps after a shipwreck?). Anything that connoted knights in shining armor or heroic deeds could be referred to as romantic. Delacroix had enormous output, leaving more than 9000 pieces (pastels, paintings and sculptures) behind upon his death.

The Romantics (aka Pre-Raphaelites) as a group did works that could be classified as medieval, religious or literary in topic, with careful observation of nature, and often quite detailed.

We were shown a painting by Alfred de Dreux of a man grooming a horse, and it was quite apparent that he had reached a VERY sensitive spot. We also saw a painting by Jean-Louis Meissonier of Napoleon on campaign in France, riding a gray (nearly white) horse on a snowy road, leading his officers that was so detailed as to be nearly photographic. Rosa Bonheur was the lone female in the group, and was defiantly feminist. Her painting of the horsefair, bustling with action, showed an almost mythical quality but was very detailed in nature.

Another painting, also detailed, by Arnold Böcklin, showed a solitary rider, holding up what appears to be a remnant of cloth in his hand, while his horse stares down at a skull in the sand. There is a ship in the distant background. One wonders what has happened—was the rider reinforcements for a defeated enemy, pondering the fate of comrades? The painting is sad, evocative.

We discussed the British Equestrian Artists as a group unto themselves. James Seymour was the first to specialize in sport subjects, though his figures were always rather stiff in appearance. He ran through his substantial family fortune quickly as a result of loose living, and died early. Next was George Stubbs whose dramatic compositions made him the best known equestrian artist of the 18^th century. His understanding of anatomy was excellent and his skill as an artist was profound. George Morland was responsible for the appearance of the working horse in the stable as art—the beginning of bucolic scenes that are still popular in the Christmas cards of today. He died a drunkard at the age of 41, having been imprisoned twice for indebtedness and painting himself out of jail. The last of the quartet, Henry Thomas Alken, became famous through his works in sporting periodicals of the day.

In the late 18^th Century and into the 19^th Century, the emphasis on horses switched from military usage to sport.

Edward Muybridge raised both eyebrows and tempers by taking a series of photos of horses both jumping and racing in order to settle an argument regarding the phases of the horse’s trot and canter as to whether or not there was some point in time in which all 4 legs were off the ground. The advent of the photograph had been hailed with consternation and distrust in the art world, as it was said that it would bring an end to the artistry of painting. Its effect on art was immediate and profound, but it was not a death knoll. Edward Degas was a fan of horse racing and horses in general, and has many works on the subject, and was heavily influenced by the works of Muybridge and others. He was also a founding member of the Impressionist movement, and had strong realistic tendencies. Pierre August Renoir was the other major Impressionist leader. We were shown a painting by Renoir depicting a woman riding side saddle, dressed elegantly in black, with her son riding beside her on a rather fat little pony. Both Renoir and Degas were fond of painting everyday riding scenes, with the horses in their proper (correct) gaits, and were careful about “getting it right.”

Max Liebermann was another of the Impressionist/Realism artistic movement that railed against academic art, and instead strove to paint “what one sees.” We were shown a painting of a man and woman riding along a beach that seemed cut from everyday life.

Paul Gaugin and Georges Seurat were of the Post-Impressionist movement. The former was single-minded and restless, and his paintings were less about accuracy and detail than they were about subject and story, with simplification of line. Seurat, in contrast, used pure color placed side by side, so that up close his paintings look like a series of dots, but from a distance, the colors blend optically, rendering the painting. Intensely secretive, he kept his color theory to himself.

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