Blacksmith Shoeing a Horse

Philips Wouwerman (mentioned on object), c. 1652 - c. 1655

De hoefsmid. In een Italiaans heuvellandschap heeft een hoefsmid zijn werkplaats bij een ruïne op een heuvel. De smid beslaat een paard. Enkele reizigers wachten met hun paarden bij de ingang naar de werkplaats. Links een man te paard bij houten brug.

  • Artwork typepainting
  • Object numberSK-A-478
  • Dimensionsouter size: depth 4.5 cm (support incl. frame), support: height 61.5 cm x width 54.5 cm
  • Physical characteristicsoil on canvas

Discover more

more by Philips Wouwerman

The Grey Horse

Philips Wouwerman (mentioned on object), c. 1646

The Grey Horse

Landscape with a Sandy Path

Philips Wouwerman (mentioned on object), c. 1655

Landscape with a Sandy Path

A Stable

Philips Wouwerman (mentioned on object), c. 1665 - 1668

A Stable

The Falcon Hunt

Philips Wouwerman (mentioned on object), c. 1658 - c. 1660

The Falcon Hunt

The Stag Hunt

Philips Wouwerman (mentioned on object), c. 1655 - 1656

The Stag Hunt

An Army Camp

Philips Wouwerman (mentioned on object), c. 1662 - c. 1664

An Army Camp

Philips Wouwerman

Blacksmith Shoeing a Horse

c. 1652 - c. 1655

Inscriptions

  • signature, with monogram, bottom right (letters of first name ligated):PHiLs W

Technical notes

Support The plain-weave canvas has been wax-resin lined. All tacking edges have been removed. Cusping is visible on all sides.
Preparatory layers The double ground extends up to the current edges of the support. The first, red-brown layer consists of orange, small black and red, and a few white pigment particles. The second, grey layer contains white, fine black and a few yellowish pigment particles.
Underdrawing No underdrawing could be detected with the naked eye or infrared photography.
Paint layers The paint extends up to the current edges of the support, except for the right edge and part of the bottom edge where a thin strip of ground is apparent; this suggests that the paint did not originally extend over the tacking edges. The composition seems to have been efficiently built up in only one or two layers. For the foreground a thin, semi-transparent brown paint was used, allowing the ground to show through; the lighter areas were executed more opaquely. Cross-sections show that the stable was applied in a single thin layer containing transparent brown and small black pigment particles, and that the blue parts of the sky consist of one layer of opaque paint composed of white and finely ground blue pigment particles. The paint surface is smooth, with some impasto applied with small, loose brushstrokes in the highlights of the clothing and faces.
Ige Verslype, 2022

Scientific examination and reports

  • paint samples: I. Verslype, RMA, nos. SK-A-478/1-2, 19 oktober 2007
  • technical report: I. Verslype, RMA, 19 oktober 2007
  • infrared photography: I. Verslype, RMA, 2 november 2007

Condition

Fair. The highest parts of the paint of the blue shirt of the man on the right and some of the brownish shaded areas in the foreground have a greyish haze. The varnish has yellowed and is cracked.

Conservation

  • P. J. Thijs, 1796: revarnished
  • conservator unknown, 1902: repaired
  • H.H. Mertens, 1964: cleaned, retouched and revarnished

Provenance

…; from the dealer Zeeger Haasebroek, Leiden, fl. 525, to Allard de la Court van der Voort (1688-1755), Leiden, 1750;1Inventory Allard de la Court van der Voort, no. 104: ‘1 capitaal en heerlijk stuk door Philip Wouerman tooveragtig geschildert sijnde 1 pakkar uytgespannen met 1 grauw off wit paard op de voorgrond onverbeeterlijk geschildert met 1 bruyn paard van agteren dat de smit 1 eyser onderleyd en 1 ruyter te paard van agteren met eenig smits gereedschap en 1 smit met differente beelditjes in sijn uytvoerigste en eelste penceel, kost mij 1750 van Haasbroek gekofft voor 100 spetie ducaten off f 525, stellen op f 400, l v. 11½ - 1 v. 8¾ d. [61.4 x 54.2 cm].’ See T.H. Lunsingh Scheurleer, C.W. Fock and A.J. van Dissel (eds.), Het Rapenburg: Geschiedenis van een Leidse gracht, II, Leiden 1987, p. 446. his wife, Catharina Backer (1689-1766), Leiden; her sale, Leiden, sold on the premises, 8 September 1766 sqq., no. 62 (‘Een Landschap; waar in een Smitswinkel, voor dewelke een gelaade waagen staat waar van de paarden zyn uitgespannen, zynde de Smit bezig een derzelve te beslaan; verders een Man te paart en verscheiden beelden en bywerk […], op doek. 1 voet 11½ duim hoog, 1 voet 8¾ duim breet. [61.4 x 54.2 cm]’), fl. 450, to D.H. Teodatie;2Copy RKD. from the dealer Pierre Fouquet Jr, Amsterdam, fl. 1,200, to Gerrit van der Pot (1732-1807), Lord of Groeneveld, Rotterdam, 4 December 1781;3Journaal Pot van Groeneveld, 4 December 1781: ‘Een smits grot, bij hetselve staat eene gelaade kar, van de twee afgespanne paarden word een beslagen etc. Op den 4en December 1781 van den hr P. Fouquet Jr. gekogt uit de hand voor f 1200. […] f 4.’ See T. Zeedijk, ‘‘Tot Voordeel en Genoegen’: De schilderijenverzameling van Gerrit van der Pot van Groenevelt’, Bulletin van het Rijksmuseum 55 (2007), pp. 128-207, esp. p. 197, no. 216. his sale, Rotterdam (Gebr. Van Ryp), 6 June 1808 sqq., no. 144 (‘Hoog 23, en breed 20½ duim [60 x 53.5 cm]. Dk. In een bergachtig Landschap ziet men op den tweeden grond eene beladen Kar met eene figuur. Voor de Kar een wit ontspannen Paard; daarnevens een bruin Paard, aan den kop vastgehouden wordende door een Smids-Jongen, terwijl een ander een achterbeen bij den schoen opligt, om hetzelve te beslaan. Wat verder ziet men den Smid bezig het hoefijzer te warmen; eene zittende Vrouw daarneven en verder veel bijwerk. Op den rijk versierden voorgrond ligt een rustende Hond. Ter regterzijde op den tweeden grond ziet men eenen Man gezeten op een beladen Paard, vergezeld van twee figuren en een hond. Een rond Gebouw, eene kloeke Rots, eene Brug en Boomen, doen zig liefelijk op, tegen eene meesterlijke lucht […].’), fl. 1,055, to Johannes Eck & Zoon, for the museum4Copy RMA.

Object number: SK-A-478

The artist

Biography

Philips Wouwerman (Haarlem 1619 - Haarlem 1668)

Philips Wouwerman was baptized in Haarlem on 24 May 1619 as a son of the history painter Pouwels Joostensz, who was probably his teacher. De Bie says that he was a pupil of Frans Hals, although their work has nothing in common. An apprenticeship with Pieter Cornelisz Verbeeck is suspected on stylistic grounds. Another important influence was Pieter van Laer, who was also Haarlem-born and bred. It is known from notes made by the artist Matthias Scheits that Wouwerman, who came from a Reformed family, fled to Hamburg in 1638 in order to marry the Catholic Anna Pietersdr van Broeckhoff. He stayed there for a while, working in the studio of the history painter Evert Decker, but two years later he is again documented in his native Haarlem, where he remained for the rest of his life.

Wouwerman’s earliest dated painting is Military Encampment with Soldiers Gambling of 1639.5Private collection; illustrated in B. Schumacher, Philips Wouwerman (1619-1668): The Horse Painter of the Golden Age, II, Doornspijk 2006, pl. 299. He joined the Haarlem Guild of St Luke in 1640, being elected to the office of warden in 1646, and from 1642 and 1651 he served in the St George Civic Guard. Wouwerman made several history pieces with religious subjects for Catholic patrons. It is clear from various sources that he was a prosperous man. Houbraken mentions that he had important patrons from the very beginning of his career, and was able to give his daughter a dowry of 20,000 guilders. He supplemented his income by speculating on the property market and dealing in art. However, there are also indications that he suffered periods of poverty. For example, he is said to have painted his Miracle of St Hubert in 1660 for the clandestine Sint-Bernarduskerk in Haarlem in thanks for the financial support he had received from the parish priest. He remained productive to the end of his life, with his last dated picture, Grey Standing in a Stable,6Private collection, on loan to the Frans Hals Museum; illustrated in B. Schumacher, Philips Wouwerman (1619-1668): The Horse Painter of the Golden Age, II, Doornspijk 2006, pl. 11. being executed in the year of his death. He died on 19 May 1668 and was buried in the Nieuwe Kerk in Haarlem four days later. Paintings by or belonging to him were sold at auction on 7 May 1670, a few months after the decease of his wife.

Wouwerman gained fame as a painter of horses, and specialized in landscapes with riders, ranging from battle scenes and army camps to hunting parties, horse fairs and stables. He also supplied the figures in landscapes by other Haarlem artists like Jacob van Ruisdael, Jan Wijnants and Cornelis Decker. His many pupils included Nicolaes Ficke (c. 1620/23-before 1702), Emanuel Murant (1622-c. 1700), Simon Dubois (1632-1708) and Anthonie de Haen (1640/41-in or before 1675). He may also have taught his younger brothers Pieter (1623-1682) and Jan (1629-1666). Wouwerman’s work, which in the eighteenth century fetched some of the highest prices for paintings from the Dutch Golden Age, was imitated by countless others.

Gerdien Wuestman, 2022

References
T. Schrevelius, Harlemias, Haarlem 1648, p. 384; C. de Bie, Het gulden cabinet van de edel vrij schilder const, inhoudende den lof vande vermarste schilders, architecte, beldthowers ende plaetsnijders van deze eeuw, Antwerp 1662, pp. 281-82; A. Houbraken, De groote schouburgh der Nederlantsche konstschilders en schilderessen, II, Amsterdam 1719, pp. 70-75, 102; R. van Eynden and A. van der Willigen, Geschiedenis der vaderlandsche schilderkunst, sedert de helft der XVIII eeuw, I, Haarlem 1816, pp. 404-06; A. van der Willigen, Geschiedkundige aanteekeningen over Haarlemsche schilders en andere beoefenaren van de beeldende kunsten, voorafgegaan door eene korte geschiedenis van het schilders- of St. Lucas Gild aldaar, Haarlem 1866, pp. 241-44; C.J. Gonnet, ‘De schilders Pouwels, Pieter en Steven Wouwerman’, in F.D.O. Obreen, Archief voor Nederlandsche kunstgeschiedenis: Verzameling van meerendeels onuitgegeven berichten en mededeelingen betreffende Nederlandsche schilders, plaatsnijders, beeldhouwers, bouwmeesters, juweliers, goud- en zilverdrijvers [enz.], VII, Rotterdam 1888-90, pp. 118-26; C. Hofstede de Groot, ‘Die Malerfamilie Wouwerman’, Kunstchronik, N.S. 2 (1890-91), cols. 1-5; A. Lichtwark, Matthias Scheits, als Schilderer des Hamburger Lebens, 1650-1700, Hamburg 1899, pp. 43-44; S. Kalff, ‘De gebroeders Wouwerman’, Elsevier’s Geïllustreerd Maandschrift 30 (1920), pp. 96-103; U. Thieme and F. Becker (eds.), Allgemeines Lexikon der bildenden Künstler von der Antike bis zur Gegenwart, XXXVI, Leipzig 1947, pp. 265-68; H. Miedema, De archiefbescheiden van het St. Lucasgilde te Haarlem, 1497-1798, II, Alphen aan den Rijn 1980, p. 1211; F.J. Duparc, ‘Philips Wouwerman, 1619-1668’, Oud Holland 107 (1993), pp. 257-86; B. Schumacher, Philips Wouwerman (1619-1668): The Horse Painter of the Golden Age, I, Doornspijk 2006, pp. 13-21, 25-38; I. van Thiel-Stroman, ‘Biographies 15th-17th Century’, in P. Biesboer et al., Painting in Haarlem 1500-1850: The Collection of the Frans Hals Museum, coll. cat. Haarlem 2006, pp. 99-363, esp. pp. 357-61

Entry

Blacksmiths form the centrepiece of many of Philips Wouwerman’s paintings, and as often is the case the inspiration probably came from Pieter van Laer, although the motif was employed by other Italianate artists as well.7A drawing that has been attributed to both Pieter van Laer and Jan Asselijn which is very close to the composition of Wouwerman’s Blacksmith in the Städel Museum in Frankfurt is reproduced in L. Krempel, Holländische Gemälde im Städel 1550-1800, II: Künstler geboren 1615 bis 1630, coll. cat. Frankfurt (Städelsches Kunstinstitut und Städtische Galerie) 2005, p. 316. Another practitioner of the genre was Karel Dujardin, as can be seen from his works in London, The Wallace Collection (dated 1658) and Dulwich Picture Gallery; J.M. Kilian, The Paintings of Karel du Jardin 1626-1678: Catalogue Raisonné, Amsterdam 2005, pp. 155-57, nos. 44-45, pls. 37-38. One of the best-known prototypes is Van Laer’s Blacksmith, which Wouwerman undoubtedly knew from a print by the Haarlem engraver Cornelis Visscher.8F.W.H. Hollstein et al., Dutch and Flemish Etchings, Engravings and Woodcuts ca. 1450-1700, XL, Roosendaal 1992, p. 71, no. 56; B. Schumacher, Philips Wouwerman (1619-1668): The Horse Painter of the Golden Age, I, Doornspijk 2006, pp. 81-82.

The composition of the Rijksmuseum picture, with the steep hill leading up to a house on the right, is close to Wouwerman’s Shoeing a Horse in London, which also has a vertical format but is much smaller.9The Wallace Collection; J. Ingamells, The Wallace Collection: Catalogue of Pictures, IV: Dutch and Flemish, coll. cat. London 1992, pp. 442-43 (ill.). It too has a group of figures to the right of the smith, including a seated mother with a child. The high, narrow bridge standing out against the sky in the Amsterdam version is a recurrent motif in the artist’s oeuvre.10On this see Sutton in P.C. Sutton et al., Masters of 17th-Century Dutch Landscape Painting, exh. cat. Amsterdam (Rijksmuseum)/Boston (Museum of Fine Arts)/Philadelphia (Philadelphia Museum of Art) 1987-88, p. 532; cf. also Wouwerman’s Stag Hunt (SK-A-480). Schumacher, who has noted that it starts appearing more frequently around the mid-1650s,11B. Schumacher, Philips Wouwerman (1619-1668): The Horse Painter of the Golden Age, I, Doornspijk 2006, p. 68. placed the Rijksmuseum painting around 1655.12B. Schumacher, Philips Wouwerman (1619-1668): The Horse Painter of the Golden Age, I, Doornspijk 2006, p. 178. However, the palette, which does not yet have the brightness and refinement of Wouwerman’s work from the second half of the 1650s, does not rule out a slightly earlier date.

Gerdien Wuestman, 2022

See Key to abbreviations, Rijksmuseum painting catalogues and Acknowledgements

Literature

J. Smith, A Catalogue Raisonné of the Works of the Most Eminent Dutch, Flemish and French Painters, I, London 1829, p. 333, no. 452; C. Hofstede de Groot, Beschreibendes und kritisches Verzeichnis der Werke der hervorragendsten holländischen Maler des XVII. Jahrhunderts, II, Esslingen/Paris 1908, p. 287, no. 116; B. Schumacher, Philips Wouwerman (1619-1668): The Horse Painter of the Golden Age, I, Doornspijk 2006, p. 178, no. A22

Collection catalogues

1809, p. 84, no. 358; 1843, p. 69, no. 356 (‘the canvas severely cracked’); 1853, p. 31, no. 328 (fl. 5,000); 1858, p. 165, no. 366; 1880, pp. 352-53, no. 414; 1887, p. 193, no. 1653; 1903, p. 304, no. 2715; 1934, p. 324, no. 2715; 1960, p. 347, no. 2715; 1976, p. 615, no. A 478

Citation

Gerdien Wuestman, 2022, 'Philips Wouwerman, Blacksmith Shoeing a Horse, c. 1652 - c. 1655', in J. Bikker (ed.), Dutch Paintings of the Seventeenth Century in the Rijksmuseum, online coll. cat. Amsterdam: https://data.rijksmuseum.nl/20026990

(accessed 6 December 2025 11:22:27).

Footnotes

  • 1Inventory Allard de la Court van der Voort, no. 104: ‘1 capitaal en heerlijk stuk door Philip Wouerman tooveragtig geschildert sijnde 1 pakkar uytgespannen met 1 grauw off wit paard op de voorgrond onverbeeterlijk geschildert met 1 bruyn paard van agteren dat de smit 1 eyser onderleyd en 1 ruyter te paard van agteren met eenig smits gereedschap en 1 smit met differente beelditjes in sijn uytvoerigste en eelste penceel, kost mij 1750 van Haasbroek gekofft voor 100 spetie ducaten off f 525, stellen op f 400, l v. 11½ - 1 v. 8¾ d. [61.4 x 54.2 cm].’ See T.H. Lunsingh Scheurleer, C.W. Fock and A.J. van Dissel (eds.), Het Rapenburg: Geschiedenis van een Leidse gracht, II, Leiden 1987, p. 446.
  • 2Copy RKD.
  • 3Journaal Pot van Groeneveld, 4 December 1781: ‘Een smits grot, bij hetselve staat eene gelaade kar, van de twee afgespanne paarden word een beslagen etc. Op den 4en December 1781 van den hr P. Fouquet Jr. gekogt uit de hand voor f 1200. […] f 4.’ See T. Zeedijk, ‘‘Tot Voordeel en Genoegen’: De schilderijenverzameling van Gerrit van der Pot van Groenevelt’, Bulletin van het Rijksmuseum 55 (2007), pp. 128-207, esp. p. 197, no. 216.
  • 4Copy RMA.
  • 5Private collection; illustrated in B. Schumacher, Philips Wouwerman (1619-1668): The Horse Painter of the Golden Age, II, Doornspijk 2006, pl. 299.
  • 6Private collection, on loan to the Frans Hals Museum; illustrated in B. Schumacher, Philips Wouwerman (1619-1668): The Horse Painter of the Golden Age, II, Doornspijk 2006, pl. 11.
  • 7A drawing that has been attributed to both Pieter van Laer and Jan Asselijn which is very close to the composition of Wouwerman’s Blacksmith in the Städel Museum in Frankfurt is reproduced in L. Krempel, Holländische Gemälde im Städel 1550-1800, II: Künstler geboren 1615 bis 1630, coll. cat. Frankfurt (Städelsches Kunstinstitut und Städtische Galerie) 2005, p. 316. Another practitioner of the genre was Karel Dujardin, as can be seen from his works in London, The Wallace Collection (dated 1658) and Dulwich Picture Gallery; J.M. Kilian, The Paintings of Karel du Jardin 1626-1678: Catalogue Raisonné, Amsterdam 2005, pp. 155-57, nos. 44-45, pls. 37-38.
  • 8F.W.H. Hollstein et al., Dutch and Flemish Etchings, Engravings and Woodcuts ca. 1450-1700, XL, Roosendaal 1992, p. 71, no. 56; B. Schumacher, Philips Wouwerman (1619-1668): The Horse Painter of the Golden Age, I, Doornspijk 2006, pp. 81-82.
  • 9The Wallace Collection; J. Ingamells, The Wallace Collection: Catalogue of Pictures, IV: Dutch and Flemish, coll. cat. London 1992, pp. 442-43 (ill.).
  • 10On this see Sutton in P.C. Sutton et al., Masters of 17th-Century Dutch Landscape Painting, exh. cat. Amsterdam (Rijksmuseum)/Boston (Museum of Fine Arts)/Philadelphia (Philadelphia Museum of Art) 1987-88, p. 532; cf. also Wouwerman’s Stag Hunt (SK-A-480).
  • 11B. Schumacher, Philips Wouwerman (1619-1668): The Horse Painter of the Golden Age, I, Doornspijk 2006, p. 68.
  • 12B. Schumacher, Philips Wouwerman (1619-1668): The Horse Painter of the Golden Age, I, Doornspijk 2006, p. 178.