Philips Wouwerman was the son of a little known painter in Alkmaar, Paul Joosten Wouwerman. Philips died at the age of 48, has created a dazzling array of landscapes, battle scenes and, above all, the elegant life of his time, its setting, castles, parties, hunting, huntsmen and, most prized of all, horses. He is said to have died poor, which may explain the delight with which he depicted in more than 600 paintings, often set in Italy, that luxury of the period; the fine horse. With these horses, he created bright dreams, cavalcades, encampments, horse fairs, stables, smithies, an entire world. He may not have enjoyed these pleasures in actual fact, but he could do so through his paintings. When he was 19 he abducted a Catholic girl whom he married in Hamburg – a dashing start to an adult life which then became thoroughly tidy and bourgeois. He worked for Everard Decker in Hamburg, then in 1640 moved to Haarlem, where he was accepted into the guild of St Luke. He was a pupil of Wynants, and it was he who put the horses into Wynants’ landscapes. Many artists have painted horses, but none with such devotion, none who cared about the social life of the animal, so to speak. He painted as a technician but also as a poet. Harness, saddles, stirrups, every detail is accurate. He was perhaps the last chronicler of a dying civilization. Others painted the degenerate animal of ‘the turf’, but Wouwerman was the man who depicted the truth of a lost world.
Museum and Gallery Holdings
Aix: The Angel Appearing to the Shepherds; Horses Led to Water (two works)
Ajaccio: Travelling
Amsterdam: Peasants Defending themselves against Soldiers; Peasants’ Victory; Camp (two works); White Horse Kicking Out; Two Landscapes; Deer Hunt; Riding School; Heron Hunt; Blacksmith; At the Drinking Place (two works); White Horse; Stable
Angers: Village Fête
Antwerp: Horsemen’s Halt; Halt; Hunt
Aschaffenburg: Horse; Horsemen before an Inn
Augsburg: Going Hawking; Halt during the Hunt
Bagnères-de-Bigorre: Halt
Basel: Horses and a Donkey; Landscape
Berlin: Manege; Hunters’ Halt by a River; Setting off for the Hunt; Horses before the Smithy; Winter Landscape; Cart Loaded with Hay; Dune Road
Bernay: Duel with Pistols
Besançon: Cavalry Encounter
Bonn: Camp Scene
Bourg: Skirmish between Cavalry and Infantry
Bremen: Dappled Horse before a Smithy
Brunswick: Ascension
Brussels: Setting off for the Hunt; Hunting Episode
Budapest: Manege; Bath
Caen: Blacksmith
Calais: Battle in 1620
Cambridge (Fitzwilliam Mus.): Landscape with a Sporting Party (oil/panel)
Chantilly: Cavalry Fighting
Château-Gontier: Lady on Horseback Visiting a Camp
Cheltenham (AG and Mus.): A Dutch Horse Fair (oil/panel)
Cologne: Halt at a Spring
Copenhagen: Hunting; Outside an Inn
Cracow: Cattle and Horses
Dijon: Leaving for the Hunt (two works); Returning from the Hunt; Encampment
Dresden: Landscape with Red-covered Carriage; White Horse before an Inn; Horseman outside a Peasant’s Hut; Carter at a Mountain Inn; Annunciation to the Shepherds; Lady on a White Horse; Returning from the Hunt; Hunting Roe Deer; White Horse in a Rocky Crevasse; St John the Baptist Preaching; Feeding the Poor in a Cloister; Horse Fair; Encampment by a River; Resting outside the Blacksmith’s House; Horses Crossing a River; Executioner’s House; Dune Landscape with a White Horse Drinking; Inn Stable; Horseman Embracing a Young Girl; Horsemen’s Halt outside a Mountain Smithy; Rider and Horse in an Inn Courtyard; Fighting in front of a Stronghold; Going Hawking; Mountainous Landscape with Water and Figures; Hunters Resting; Mounted Trumpeter outside a Vivandière’s Tent; Fishermen by the Sea, with Dunes; Hunters Resting among Rocks; Horses at a Ford; Fighting on a Bridge; Horsemen Resting at a Tavern; Returning from the Hunt; Leaving for the Hunt; Standard-bearer and Vivandière’s Tent; Horsemen Resting by a Spring; Peasants’ Cart and Horsemen; Waterfall; Bear and Wild Boar Hunt; Country Smithy; Drinking Place; Rest on the March; Deer Hunt by a River; Encampment by a River; Fighting between Turkish and Christian Horsemen; Horsemen Fighting in front of a Gate; Gypsy Encampment; Horseman and Fishermen on a Bank; Horseman and Peasant Drinking; Duel between Horsemen; Fighting by a Ruined Castle; Day in the Country; Small Stable with Horses; Stable and Travellers; Skirmish on a Height; Waggons Attacked by Thieves; Horsemen Fighting in front of a Burning Mill; Horsemen Fighting Peasants; Fisherman; Leaving for the Hunt; Outside a Smithy
Dublin: Cavalry Halt; Annunciation to the Shepherds
Dunkirk: Small White Horse
Erlangen: Leaving Camp; Gypsies; Peasant Family
Frankfurt am Main: Halt in front of a Cave; Blacksmith; Horseman in front of a Tent; Workhorse; Horses in a Stable; Dune Landscape
Gdansk: Horsemen in Camp
Geneva (MAH): The Prophet Elisha Mocked by Children
Geneva (Mus. Ariana): Horsemen in front of an Inn
Glasgow: Landscape with Peasants, a Carriage, etcetera; Landscape with Horseman; Travellers’ Halt; Hunters with Hawks; Blacksmith; Landscape with Figures (Landscape of Lingelbach); Landscape with Figures
Göteborg: Leaving for the Hunt
Graz: Episode of the Thirty Years’ War
Haarlem: Deer; Goats
Hamburg: Drinking Place; Peasant Grooming his Horse; Landscape with Travellers; Fishermen on a Bank; Horseman among Dunes; Adoration of the Shepherds (doubtful attribution)
Hanover: Landscape
Helsinki: Outside the Smithy
Kansas City: Horseman and Gypsy Girl
Kassel: Return from Hawking; Riding School in front of a Great Gate; Large Stable; Stable of a Ruinous House; Interior of a Stable with Horsemen; Labourers Resting at Noon; Four Horsemen at the Smithy; Peasants Resting (two works); Waggon; Deer Hunt; Country Road with Peasants and Hunters; Scene of War; Scene of Battle; Harvest; Market and Old White Horse; Three Riverbank Scenes; Rest by the Well; Fighting between Europeans and Easterners; Piebald Horse at a Smithy; White Horse at a Smithy
La Fère: Peasant Unloading a Cart; Information
Leipzig: Dunes; Piebald Horse in front of a Smithy; Landscape
Liège: Horses and Figures
Lierre: Two Horses
Lille: Hunting Halt; Halt
London (Dulwich Picture Gal.): Halt of Cavaliers at an Inn (c. 1642-1643, oil/panel); Halt of a Hunting party (early 1660s, oil on canvas)
London (NG): A Horse being Shod outside a Village Smithy (1640-1650, oil/wood); Cavalry making a Sortie from a Fort on a Hill (1646, oil on canvas); A White Horse, and an Old Man binding Faggots (1650s, oil/wood); Two Vedettes on the Watch by a Stream (1650s, oil/wood); Cavalrymen halted at a Sutler’s Booth (1650s, oil/wood); A Stream in the Dunes, with Two Bathers (1650-1668, oil/wood); The Interior of a Stable (1655-1660, oil on canvas); A Dune Landscape with a River and Many Figures (1660-1668, oil/wood); Cavalry Attacking Infantry (1656-1658, oil/wood, work of studio); A Stag Hunt (c. 1665, oil on canvas); other paintings
London (Royal Collection): A Battle-piece with Soldiers Plundering; The Hayfield; Stacking a Hayrick under a Stormy Sky; A Country Road with a Stone Bridge and Travellers; Robbers Attacking a Market Cart; Cavalry at a Sutler’s Booth (two paintings); A Skirmish of Cavalry; several other paintings
London (Wallace Collection): The Horse Fair (late 1660s, oil/panel); Shoeing a Horse (c. 1650, oil/panel); A Camp Scene (c. 1650, oil/panel); Loading a Boat (before 1650, oil/panel); A Stream in hilly Country (late 1650s, oil on canvas); By the Riverside (oil/panel)
Lyons: Halt
Madrid (Prado): Parade; Two Horses; Hunting Party (two works); Hare Hunt; Hunters Resting; Gathering at an Inn; Hunters Stopping by an Inn; Encounter between Cavalry and Infantry; Dispute between Horsemen and Pedestrians, with Burning Convoy; Fighting
Mannheim: Two White Horses; Donkeys and Sheep; Looting
Melbourne (Nat. Gal. of Victoria): White Horse and Figures
Montpellier: Labourer Resting; Petits-Sables; Le Coup de l’Étrier; Horse Fair; Arrival
Moscow: Travellers’ Halt; Out Riding; Hawking; Return from the Hunt
Munich: Deer Hunt; Dismounted Rider on a Narrow Bridge; Dismounted Gentleman Hawking; Gentlemen Mounting up in a Stable (two works); Laden Carriage Stopped at a River, the Horses Unharnessed; Carter Watering his Horses at a Stream; Horses Led to the Water by Children; Manege; Landscape with Skaters; Battle of Nordlingen (1634); Swedes Looting a Village; Hunters and Ladies Refreshing themselves; Peasants, a Mother Suckling her Child, a Dog, a Horse; Gypsy Encampment; Landscape; Horsemen Approaching a River
Nantes: Horsemen Setting off; Cavalry Vanguard
Naples: Three Battles; Landscapes (One with a White Horse, the Other with Peasants and Horses)
Narbonne: Oxen in Convoy
New York: Halt at a Bridge
Nice: Horsemen’s Halt
Niort: Crossing a Ford; Camp
Oberschleissheim (Neues Schloss Schleissheim, Staatsgal.): Going Hawking
Oldenburg: Horseman and Beggar
Oporto: Leaving for the Hunt
Paris (Louvre): Fat Ox in Holland; Wooden Bridge across a Torrent; Leaving for the Hunt; Going Hawking; Deer Hunt; Manege; Stable Interior; Two Cavalry Encounters; Halt of Hunters and Horsemen in front of an Inn; Halt of Horsemen by a Tent; Soldiers’ Halt; Peasants Driving a Hay Cart; Pilgrims
Prague: Three Horses in Pasture
Reading: Battle
Rome (Gal. Colonna): Deer Hunt; Fighting
Rome (Gal. Nazionale): Dunes
Rome (Orsini Gal.): Cavalry Encounter
Rotterdam: Village Looted by Soldiers; Horse
Schwerin: Portrait of a Woman; At the Watering Place; Bear Hunt; Fighting between Cavalry and Infantry; Gypsy Camp; Village Smithy
Sibiu: Landscape; Packhorses in the Mountains
Speyer: Stable; Hunter with Hawk
St Petersburg (Hermitage): Cat Hunting; Open-air Manege (four works); Stable; Inn Stable; Travellers (two works); Ford for Horses; Ford; Road with Carters; Travellers in a Grotto; Stall-holders; Travellers’ Halt (three works); Inn Courtyard; Smithy; Rest during a Ride; Sea Port; Near Haarlem (two works); Horses in Pasture; Burnt Mill; Fighting between Imperial Troops and Turks; Polish Cavalry against Ottoman Cavalry; Fighting between Poles and Swedes; Outpost Skirmish; Horsemen’s Halt (two works); Vivandière’s Tent (two); Hawking (three works); Leaving for the Hunt (three works); Return from Hawking; Deer Hunt; Stag at Bay; Hunting Adventure; Young Bird-catchers; Merry Company; Peasants in front of a Tavern; Winter Scene; Harvesters; Landscape; Dutch Coast; Bathers
Stockholm: Grand Sled on Ice; Manege (three works); Baggage Carts in a Shed; Hay Cart by a River; Charlatan at a Fair; Large Landscape of Dunes in Hollland; Fishermen on a Bank; Watering Horses
Strasbourg: In front of the Customs Barrier
Stuttgart: Peasant Showing his Horse to a Nobleman
The Hague: Hunters’ Halt; Great Battle; Reaching the Inn; Leaving the Inn; Hawking; Manege in the Country; Wagonload of Hay; Camp; Hunters Resting
Turin: Fighting on a Bridge; Battle
Utrecht: Horseman in a Stable
Valencia: Resting under Trees
Valenciennes: Leaving for the Hunt
Vienna (Liechtenstein Mus.): Women Bathing; Watering Place; Resting in a Ruin; Hunters with Hawks; Battle; Attack on a Coach
Vienna (NM): Cavalry Fighting; Three Horsemen in front of a Vivandière’s Tent; Dunes; Manege and Ford; Attack by Thieves (two works); Halt during a Hunt; Landscape
Washington DC (Georgetown University): Horse Fair (oil on canvas)
Washington DC (NGA): Battle Scene (c. 1645-1646, oil/panel)
Wiesbaden: Outside a Stable
