Lot Essay
As a specialist in equestrian themes, Wouwerman was naturally drawn to the subject of resting soldiers watering their horses. His paintings are not easily dated, but in the spectacular Evans landscape, the artist has adopted the vaguely Italianate setting, bright local colors, and lightness of touch which, as Peter Sutton has noted, characterize Wouwermans later works. A Stag Hunt of comparable date was sold at Christie's, New York, May 31, 1989, lot 131, for $580,000.
Vivid and beautifully preserved, the present lot was formerly in the Rothschild collections at Waddesdon Manor. It is animated by Wouwerman's mastery of atmospheric effects: dramatic cloud formations that sweep across a vast, darkening skyline; a single, angular tree that seems to bend in the rushing wind; a distant, fog-shrouded blue mountain. But the silvery landscape is also enlivened by the colorfully dressed standard-bearer, a signature feature in Wouwerman's works, whose self-confident swagger pays tribute to the artist's first teacher, Frans Hals.
Vivid and beautifully preserved, the present lot was formerly in the Rothschild collections at Waddesdon Manor. It is animated by Wouwerman's mastery of atmospheric effects: dramatic cloud formations that sweep across a vast, darkening skyline; a single, angular tree that seems to bend in the rushing wind; a distant, fog-shrouded blue mountain. But the silvery landscape is also enlivened by the colorfully dressed standard-bearer, a signature feature in Wouwerman's works, whose self-confident swagger pays tribute to the artist's first teacher, Frans Hals.