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Peasants and a White Horse

Karel DujardinBefore 1678

Dulwich Picture Gallery

Dulwich Picture Gallery
London, United Kingdom

Du Jardin trained with Nicolaes Berchem and probably made a trip to Italy in the 1640s. He was chiefly a painter of Dutch Italianate landscapes, but also produced some ambitious history paintings, and even some portraits.

His keen observation of animals, seen with affection and humour, often marks him out from other Italianate painters. In this example the grinning white horse is illuminated by the last light of the setting sun.

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  • Title: Peasants and a White Horse
  • Creator Lifespan: c. 1622 - 1678
  • Date: Before 1678
  • Physical Dimensions: w397 x h441 cm
  • Type: Painting
  • Medium: Oil
  • Work Nationality: Dutch
  • Support: Canvas
  • Provenance: London, Noel Desenfans, 1802-1807: London, Skinner and Dyke, Desenfans sale, 18 Mar. 1802, lot 148 (Descriptive Catalogue no. 133); London, Noel Desenfans (1804 Insurance List, no. 89); London, Sir Francis Bourgeois, 1807-1811; Bourgeois Bequest, 1811.
  • Further Information: Dujardin’s œuvre consists mainly of small Italianate landscapes that depict country people with animals. These are executed with fine detail, bright colours, and strong contrasts of light and shade. He also made drawings, mainly in chalk, and from the 1650s he produced some fifty etchings. Painted with greater chiaroscuro than his earlier work with a different tonal palette of sombre muted colours, and energetic, broadly painted figures, Peasants and a White Horseis typical of Dujardin’s late œuvre, also in its inclusion of a horse in the centre of the composition..
  • Artist: Du Jardin, Karel
  • Acquisition Method: Bourgeois, Sir Peter Francis (Bequest, 1811)
Dulwich Picture Gallery

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