(Siegen 1577–1640 Antwerp)
A study of two horses and riders,
oil on panel, 64.5 x 76.5 cm, framed

Provenance:
Aristocratic collection, Belgium

The present composition depicts two equestrian studies that belong to a group of oil sketches attributed to either Peter Paul Rubens and/or his workshop. The rider on the left has his horse perform the trot or even the passage, whilst the horse and rider on the right are performing the levade. Both riders are confidently holding the reins in one hand and the baton, a commander’s symbol, in the other.

Three autograph sketches are recognised as being by the master, of which one is of a brown and white coloured piebald horse and his rider seen from reverse that was recently auctioned at Sotheby’s, New York (see sale, Sotheby’s, New York, 25 January 2017, lot 17). The authorship was given to Rubens after removal of a background that had been added later. The Sotheby’s work was subsequently linked with two other individual Rubens equestrian sketches that were also painted originally on the same plain ground layer and are of similar size. The first study shows a semi-rearing grey and white horse in profile, currently in a private collection in England; the second study shows a grey horse painted frontally and was previously in the collection of the Earls of Portarlington, though it’s current whereabouts remain unknown. The two latter sketches are repeated in the present painting.

It is believed that the three autograph Rubens’ sketches were used by his workshop assistants to set up equestrian portraits, or subject pictures that requested horses and riders, such as the portrait of Don Rodrigo Calderon on Horseback, Royal Collection Trust, England (inv. no. 404393), and the composition of A Wolf and Fox Hunt, conserved in the Metropolitan Museum of Art (Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, inv. no. 10.37). Since the present painting relates to sketches on which these two works are based, the relation of the present painting and that of the portrait of Don Rodrigo Calderon on Horseback and A Wolf and Fox Hunt is also evident.

The present work also relates to two additional equestrian studies attributed to Rubens’ studio. The two poses in the present panel are repeated in a painting, featuring three horses arranged together, that is traditionally called The Riding School and was formerly in the Kaiser Friedrich Museum, Berlin (inv. no. 797), though now lost. The Berlin picture was once thought to have been by Rubens himself, but more recently had been declassified by scholars as a studio version. The same three poses, albeit in a different arrangement, are to be found in a picture conserved in the Royal Collection (inv. no. RCIN 404806).

Due to current condition issues of the paint layer of the present work, it is difficult to confirm or deny the involvement of Peter Paul Rubens, however the high quality of the horses is undeniable. As is documented, after the master’s death in 1640 it was studio practice to transform sketches of every type into individual paintings fit for the market. This declares the enlargement of the present panel and the later added sundown landscape and country estate in the background, both date from the same period as the horses and their riders

During the sixteenth century, the dressage and training of horses became fashionable at the courts of Europe. Controlling a horse and asking it to perform certain complicated exercises symbolised solid leadership of the rider. For the gentlemen and young nobles at court, performing these higher riding skills became an important part of their education and resulted in the subgenre of equestrian portraiture. Peter Paul Rubens, who himself was a passionate rider, interspersed his oeuvre with the noble animals and was fascinated by the elegant movements of the horses and keen in capturing their anatomy correctly in all its complexity from his early career onwards.