1619 -1668 · Haarlem and United Provinces

Elegant horses, lively paths and vast landscapes make Philips Wouwerman one of the most sought-after masters of the Dutch Golden Age.

Philips Wouwerman was born in Haarlem in 1619 and died there in 1668. Son of the painter Paulus Joosten Wouwerman, he probably received his first training in the family workshop and is also said to have attended that of Frans Hals. He was admitted to the guild of Saint-Luc de Haarlem in 1640. Influenced by the landscapes of Jan Wijnants and the Italianate scenes of Pieter van Laer, he built an immediately recognizable specialty: riders, horses, stops, hunts, battles and journeys inscribed in large atmospheric spaces. The Horsemen's Stop distributes mounts and figures around a temporary rest, each attitude becoming a small observation of life along the way. In Winter landscape with riders, cold, snow and sky modify the color while maintaining the precision of the movement. The Pilgrims combine movement, devotion and social diversity. Great fight of riders and infantrymen finally transforms equestrian mastery into dramatic energy, without losing the readability of the whole. Wouwerman varies the seasons, times and circumstances with remarkable inventiveness. Wouwerman varies the seasons, times and circumstances with remarkable inventiveness. His fine touch, his luminous distances and his famous light horse animate compositions which were collected throughout Europe in the 18th century and widely disseminated through engraving. The "Philips Wouwerman" selection notably features La Halte des riders and Winter Landscape with Riders. His reading favors drawing.

In Wouwerman, the horse is both an actor and a measure of the landscape: its light, its movement and its silhouette order the entire story.