Herd of horses

Five horses climb up a slope driven by two horsemen who follow behind them. Four are sorrel with brown coats and one is white, differentiated from the rest not only for its color but also on account of its attitude, paused and looking off into the distance as if indifferent to the impetus of the others. The horsemen driving the herd are placed further back, on a second plane and slightly blurred; one of them is astride a white horse. The vegetation of the dry climate can barely be distinguished ahead of the equine group. The influence of Heinrich von Zügel, a painter specializing in animals and Fader’s maestro, is clear in this work, where the horses’ presence is both greater and superior to that of the human beings. A palette of low tones dominates, with grays and browns not only in the land, where it belongs, but also in the sky, where these tones are unexpected. The naturalist school’s influence is plain to see, and an interest in light and detail barely begins to appear in the treatment of the head and neck of the white horse.