Philips Wouwerman

The Bucking Grey

c. 1660 - c. 1665

Inscriptions

  • signature, with monogram, bottom left (letters of first name ligated):PHils . W

Technical notes

Support The single, horizontally grained oak plank is approx. 1 cm thick. The reverse is bevelled on all sides. Dendrochronology has shown that the youngest heartwood ring was formed in 1630. The panel could have been ready for use by 1639, but a date in or after 1649 is more likely.
Preparatory layers The single, thin, off-white ground extends over the edges of the support and barely fills the grain of the wood. It consists of white pigment with a small addition of ochre-coloured pigment particles.
Underdrawing No underdrawing could be detected with the naked eye or infrared photography.
Paint layers The paint extends up to the edges of the support. The main elements of the composition were reserved. Slight adjustments were subsequently made to the contours of the kicking horse, the dog in the centre and the leaves of the tree, for example. Minor changes to the ears of the horse in the right foreground are visible with infrared photography. A cross-section shows that the foreground at lower right consists of a single, thin, fine brownish layer containing small black, red and very few white pigment particles. The paint layers were thinly applied with dabbed brushstrokes. Some impasto is visible in the trunk and leaves of the tree.
Anna Krekeler, 2022

Scientific examination and reports

  • dendrochronology: P. Klein, RMA, 27 oktober 1995
  • infrared photography: A. Krekeler, RMA, 16 februari 2008
  • technical report: A. Krekeler, RMA, 16 februari 2008
  • paint samples: I. Verslype, RMA, nos. SK-A-483/1-2, 13 maart 2008

Condition

Good. The varnish is slightly discoloured and has an uneven gloss.

Conservation

  • W.A. Hopman, 1875: varnish regenerated
  • H. Plagge, 1964: treated

Provenance

...; sale, Maria Trip (1750-1813, Amsterdam), widow of Willem Boreel (1744-1796), Amsterdam (P. van der Schley et al.), 23 September 1814 sqq., no. 23 (‘Haut 14½, large 19 pouces. [37.3 x 48.8 cm] Sur Bois. Auprès de quelques gros chênes est représenté un Cavalier montant un cheval blanc, qui vient de renverser en ruant une fruitiere tombée à terre et ramassant son panier; à côté de celui-ci se trouve un palfrenier tenant un cheval gris. Du massif d’arbres part un autre Cavalier au grand galop, auquel un Seigneur et une Dame font place. Au second plan deux hommes font abreuver leurs chevaux dans une marre d’eau au bord de laquelle on voit des baigneurs; la perspective est terminée par des colines detachées sur un beau ciel nuagé. [...]’), fl. 2,825, to Jeronimo de Vries, for the museum1NHA, ARM, IS, inv. 5, no. 27 (29 September 1814, no. 23).

ObjectNumber: SK-A-483

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 1639.2Private 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,3Private 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

A horse lashing out with its hind legs is a common motif in Philips Wouwerman’s work.4See also Horsepond near a Boundary Stone (SK-A-485) and A Riding School (SK-A-477). On this motif see Buvelot in Q. Buvelot, M. Hilaire and O. Zeder, Tableaux flamands et hollandais du Musée Fabre de Montpellier, coll. cat. Montpellier 1998, p. 261. Sometimes it is taking place in the context of controlled dressage, as in A Riding School,5SK-A-477. but here it is unexpected.6D.J. Kok, Wahrheit und Dichtung in den Reiter- und Pferdegemälden und Zeichnungen berühmter holländischer Maler des 16. und 17. Jahrhunderts: Mit spezieller Berücksichtigung der betreffenden Kunstwerke Haarlemer Maler, Würzburg 1933, p. 91. The other animals are also reacting unpredictably. The brown horse on the left is rearing up, and the saddled jennet on the right, a temperamental Spanish/Berber breed, is proving a handful for its groom to control.7With thanks to Jef Hagen, written communication RMA, 24 November 2008. In the foreground a woman is sprawled full-length on the ground with apples spilling out of her basket. The scene is being observed by a couple on the left. The sequence of events is not entirely clear. Has the woman been hit by the hooves of the bucking grey,8There is a similar motif in a painting in a private collection; B. Schumacher, Philips Wouwerman (1619-1668): The Horse Painter of the Golden Age, I, Doornspijk 2006, p. 293, no. A302; ibid., II, 2006, pl. 281. and is this what has startled the others, or did she stumble and frighten the horse on the right, to which the grey reacted?

As usual with Wouwerman, close attention was being paid to minor elements, like the foam on the mouth of the jennet. The rendering of the horses is typical of the artist. The most striking features include the red, bloodshot eyes and their gaze out at the viewer. The many figures grouped horizontally along the edge of the picture, and above all the anecdotal staffage, make The Bucking Grey the epitome of Wouwerman’s late work.9For a characterization of which see B. Schumacher, Philips Wouwerman (1619-1668): The Horse Painter of the Golden Age, I, Doornspijk 2006, p. 71. Interestingly, the jennet with the white star on its forehead also features in Horsepond on a River (SK-C-271) of roughly the same date. Jef Hagen recognized that it was the same animal; written communication RMA, 24 November 2008. Schumacher accordingly gave it a fairly late date in the first half of the 1660s.10B. Schumacher, Philips Wouwerman (1619-1668): The Horse Painter of the Golden Age, I, Doornspijk 2006, p. 169. In addition to a painted copy, the present whereabouts of which are unknown,11See sale, Amsterdam (P. Brandt), 23 April 1968, no. 489 (ill.). the Amsterdam Museum has a drawn copy by Reinier Craeyvanger (1812-1880)12B. Schumacher, Philips Wouwerman (1619-1668): The Horse Painter of the Golden Age, I, Doornspijk 2006, p. 169. and there is a print by Johannes Arnoldus Boland (1838-1922).

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. 332, no. 450; C. Hofstede de Groot, Beschreibendes und kritisches Verzeichnis der Werke der hervorragendsten holländischen Maler des XVII. Jahrhunderts, II, Esslingen/Paris 1908, p. 262, no. 43; B. Schumacher, Philips Wouwerman (1619-1668): The Horse Painter of the Golden Age, I, Doornspijk 2006, p. 169, no. A2

Collection catalogues

1843, p. 72, no. 364 (‘the oak showing through, the sky has imperfect areas’); 1853, p. 31, no. 333 (fl. 7,000); 1858, p. 168, no. 372; 1880, pp. 349-50, no. 409; 1887, p. 193, no. 1648; 1903, p. 303, no. 2710; 1934, p. 323, no. 2710; 1976, p. 614, no. A 483

Citation

Gerdien Wuestman, 2022, 'Philips Wouwerman, The Bucking Grey, c. 1660 - c. 1665', in J. Bikker (ed.), Dutch Paintings of the Seventeenth Century in the Rijksmuseum, online coll. cat. Amsterdam: hdl.handle.net/10934/RM0001.COLLECT.6599

(accessed 8 June 2025 03:56:18).

Footnotes

  • 1NHA, ARM, IS, inv. 5, no. 27 (29 September 1814, no. 23).
  • 2Private collection; illustrated in B. Schumacher, Philips Wouwerman (1619-1668): The Horse Painter of the Golden Age, II, Doornspijk 2006, pl. 299.
  • 3Private 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.
  • 4See also Horsepond near a Boundary Stone (SK-A-485) and A Riding School (SK-A-477). On this motif see Buvelot in Q. Buvelot, M. Hilaire and O. Zeder, Tableaux flamands et hollandais du Musée Fabre de Montpellier, coll. cat. Montpellier 1998, p. 261.
  • 5SK-A-477.
  • 6D.J. Kok, Wahrheit und Dichtung in den Reiter- und Pferdegemälden und Zeichnungen berühmter holländischer Maler des 16. und 17. Jahrhunderts: Mit spezieller Berücksichtigung der betreffenden Kunstwerke Haarlemer Maler, Würzburg 1933, p. 91.
  • 7With thanks to Jef Hagen, written communication RMA, 24 November 2008.
  • 8There is a similar motif in a painting in a private collection; B. Schumacher, Philips Wouwerman (1619-1668): The Horse Painter of the Golden Age, I, Doornspijk 2006, p. 293, no. A302; ibid., II, 2006, pl. 281.
  • 9For a characterization of which see B. Schumacher, Philips Wouwerman (1619-1668): The Horse Painter of the Golden Age, I, Doornspijk 2006, p. 71. Interestingly, the jennet with the white star on its forehead also features in Horsepond on a River (SK-C-271) of roughly the same date. Jef Hagen recognized that it was the same animal; written communication RMA, 24 November 2008.
  • 10B. Schumacher, Philips Wouwerman (1619-1668): The Horse Painter of the Golden Age, I, Doornspijk 2006, p. 169.
  • 11See sale, Amsterdam (P. Brandt), 23 April 1968, no. 489 (ill.).
  • 12B. Schumacher, Philips Wouwerman (1619-1668): The Horse Painter of the Golden Age, I, Doornspijk 2006, p. 169.