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About the Painting
This painting depicts what is by far Verschuur's favorite pair of equine models, featured repeatedly and prominently in an overwhelming number of his most celebrated paintings. As Verschuur was a typical Romantic painter, he emphasised the beauty of the horse, with harmonious proportions and lush sheen coats in grey, white and chestnut. Another feature typical for the artist is the stable interior and the presence of one or more attendants pictured in Verschuur's usual fashion. This happens to be one of the more complex of Verschuur's stable scenes, with the addition of no less than three attendants and multiple livestock surrounding the main pair of horses, such as a donkey, goat, small fowl and a dog.
Verschuur's masterful depictions of horses were both popular and celebrated from the very beginning of his career. He worked a great deal in Gelderland and Brabant, but he also painted in Switzerland, the South of France and Germany. During his life he was not only famous in his own country but he also sold his work to many foreign collectors. Emperor Napoleon III of France for example acquired one of his paintings at an important exhibition in Paris in 1855. Verschuur won various gold medals at other exhibitions. Moreover, he was officially awarded the title of Officer of the Order of the Oak Crown in 1862 by King Willem III of The Netherlands in appreciation of his work.
Nowadays Verschuur is considered the most important Dutch painter of horses in the 19th century, which is why his works are also very much in demand on an international level. He painted with feeling for composition and for the effect of light. With unique skill and precision, he portrayed the anatomy of the animals. He painted workhorses, harness horses, draught horses as well as elegant thoroughbreds. Verschuur portrayed them against a background of a landscape or the familiar environment of a horse stable.
