1275 - Philips Wouwerman (1619 Haarlem – 1668 ibid.) after

Philips Wouwerman (1619 Haarlem – 1668 ibid.) after Rider in Front of a Cantinier’s Tent A narrative, lively scene from 17th-century military life, painted in the late 18th or early 19th century, depicting everyday camp life: a group of horsemen stops at a canteen tent, and while the horseman in the center, mounted on his white horse, already holds a jug in his hands, a soldier behind him dismounts to get himself something to drink as well. Another soldier sits on a barrel under the tent’s awning and has drawn a young camp follower toward him. Executed in a finely glazed painting style, this equestrian portrait shows clear references in both composition and subject matter to the oeuvre of Philip Wouwerman, the most significant horse painter of the Baroque period. A frequently recurring central motif in Wouwerman’s oeuvre is gray horses, which, as in this painting, are also accentuated by dramatic lighting. The Städel Collection in Frankfurt am Main includes both a work on paper (Inv. No. 24916 D) and an oil painting (Inv. No. SG 533), both of which draw on this motif. According to current research, however, the whereabouts of the original painting are unknown. Nevertheless, it can be concluded that in the early 19th century it must have been part of a major English collection, as it was engraved by the copperplate engraver William Henry Worthington for Allan Cunningham’s work *The Gallery of Pictures by the First Masters*, published around 1836, under the title “The Sutling Booth” (see British Museum, Inv. No.: 2006, U.1281). Cunningham’s lavish publication was commissioned to depict the treasures of the most important British collections of the time (such as the Royal Collection or that of Robert Peel, among others). Oil on wooden panel. 37.5 cm x 30.5 cm (viewing dimensions). Framed. After Philips Wouwerman (1619–1668). Oil on wooden panel.