Here I will be talking about paintings of horses and how they made there way to the canvas. We will be starting at the earliest paintings I can find from caves and how the painting have evolved and made their way to the canvas.
Fragmentary relief showing two pairs of horses harnessed to a chariot (now lost), part of a royal procession scene, Unknown, 14th century BCE, From the collection of: The Israel Museum, Jerusalem
This is a sculpture of two pair of horses that are pulling something (a chariot maybe). One of the reasons I pick this, is because of how they use the dye and carving to define the horses. And for this to be a sculpture or carving the detail that they put in this work really shows, to the eyes, jaw and even the harness.
Surveying the fields for Nebamun, fragment of a scene from the tomb-chapel of Nebamun, -1350/-1350, From the collection of: British Museum
This piece looks like its was made in Egypt. It shows several different horses in this art. The white horses appear to be grazing and the top horses are brown and black, and they look like they are about to carry a man on his chariot. Even though this is a small picture for us to see, again I really like the detail in this painting. It’s the colors that stick out to me the most.
Black-Figure Amphora, 540 - 530 B.C., From the collection of: The J. Paul Getty Museum
This is a vas with a picture of two horses pulling a man though a crowd of people. This has to be one of my favorite BC paintings. I just love how they use the colors in this painting to bring out so much detail and hold your attention. If you look at the black horse the use white line to show the different curves in the jaw line and the legs. For me this is an amazing piece of art.
Potidaia, stater, Unknown, -0490, From the collection of: Numismatic Museum
This coin shows a man on a horse with a spear. This one took me by surprise a little. Now I do not know if this is a token or some form of money. At first glance I immediately though it to be money. Now it may not be as small as I think it is. Just looking at it a lot of the art on this went into the horse. You can see the main of the horse, but with the man all you see is a human looking figure.
Limestone reliefs showing two men leading a horse, -490/-470, From the collection of: British Museum
This piece is made out of the carving of limestone. And in both images it is two men one is walking the horse and the man in the rear is carrying the food for the horse or fanning the horse with palm leaves. I like how the made the horses appear that is coming out the wall adding to the realism.
Block IX of the west frieze., Pheidias Workshop, 442-438 BC, From the collection of: Acropolis Museum
The is a carving of to men on there horses, and it look like they might be racing.
If you look back at some of the carvings, you can see the progression of the level of detail that they are adding to these pieces of art. Now for this I am just focusing on the carving that we have seen so far. The amount of detail is getting more realistic and clear. Look at how you can start to see the muscles and the bones even the vain in the horses face.
Hippostratos, indian standard tetradrachm, Unknown, -0065/-0055, From the collection of: Numismatic Museum
This is a coin with a man on one side with a cap on his head and on the other a man on a horse, and both the man and the horse is wearing armor. So if we look back 400 years on my gallery we had a stone coin with minimum detail. Now we have a metallic coin and there is a little more detail to get out of this picture. Yes a little more it no that more, but we can clearly see there is armor on are horse this time and the have a smother look to it and it shows a bit more depth.
Battle of San Romano, Paolo Uccello, 1436 - 1440, From the collection of: Uffizi Gallery
This picture is a lot of horse in a time of war being slaughtered. When have made it past the BC era and we are getting to the paints on the canvases. No in the past they did use a canvas but most of them were a part of the wall or object. Now its just a clean canvas. Now we came from 65 BC or 55 BC to 1436 or 1440’s. I am not saying the is the first painting of horses on a canvas. Now let get to the painting, so when I described this painting i was talking about the horses being slaughtered while there are people in this painting you can not help but focus on the horse because of how bright they are in caparison to the people. I think that the artist had more sympathy for the horse than he did for the men. The reason I think that is because the men know what they are dying for, but the horses is innocent in this battle between men. That’s why I thin the horses are brighter, because of their innocents.
Herd of horses, Fernando Fader, 1907, From the collection of: Colección AMALITA
This painting depicts horse out in an open field grazing. Looking at the last canvas to this one you can see a big change in the style. With the last painting all the lines are filled in and you do not see much of brush strokes, or if any at all. Now with this painting you can see all most every brush stroke that went in to making the picture. The horses are even starting to look more realistic with the little details like the lighting, the highlights and the muscle structure of the horses.
Martial Attire, Sun Hao, 2015, From the collection of: China Modern Contemporary Art Document
This is a horse walking or looking toward the viewer with a detail harness and a robe or cape. So we have started from the 14 century BC to 2015. Not only is the last picture in my collection this would be my all time favorite in it. If I would not of look this up with the word paint in here I would have thought it was a really but picture. It’s amazing to me how people can draw something and make it look so real. This horse harness looks to appear to be a crowned with the decorative pieces that is hanging to the harness. On its back the horse is wearing a purple robe that is connected to a decorative metal harness. The over all picture just looks so real.
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