Sold Out
RV ART GALLERY STUDIO DI RICCI VALERIA
Via Gonzaga 10 M
Guastalla (IT)
Contact the seller directly

Associate seller

Contact the seller directly
Epoca

early nineteenth century

Sizes

51 x 76 cm canvas - 65 x 90 cm including frame

Description

Oil on canvas in excellent state of conservation, signed lower right, viewed by a professional restoration studio who followed the cleaning, good general state of conservation. Contemporary English frame.
Martin Anson A. English painter active in England in the 1803th century. specialized in equestrian subjects and Sporting Art, he worked at the atelier of Cooper Henderson (1877 – XNUMX), a painter active at the British Museum regarding animalier subjects linked to the equestrian world. The horse plays an essential role in the Anglo-Saxon economy of the XNUMXth century, it represents economic power, "it was a symbol, a state of mind, a legend and an indispensable means in everyday life" (Comtesse de Pange)
At the beginning of the Industrial Revolution the horse was a main actor, witness to a renewed strategy resulting from the mechanization process: from a means of transport and work, it became the absolute protagonist of elite pastimes such as Fox Hunting and horse racing which gave rise to a new artistic genre: Sporting Art.
The public in the future will be attracted by horses, dogs, jockeys with brightly colored liveries, hares and game more than any other subject. Sporting Art contains key moments of the English Social Age, I find a lot of consensus even among enthusiasts who wanted to own works where the beloved favorites appeared. The subjects depicted instilled in the observer the passion and euphoria of a day of galloping or exciting walks among natural obstacles on the English moors with the noisy background of the pack of dogs. The breeder clients belonging to the English High Society felt the same pleasure in discovering an animal on the canvas, instead of returning it to the stable or in the boxes they were equally proud to see it enhanced on the wall of the sumptuous ancient homes with the aim of surprising the guests invited to the receptions. The gray horse depicted in Martin's painting is placed in a very particular context, in the background the industrial reality advances on the countryside, the nearby buildings are brick stables surrounded by training tracks and green meadows.
The gaze has been purposely "humanized" to create a sense of bewilderment and nostalgia for rural life, the animal has an athletic, well-proportioned physique, with correct muscles, the expression is quivering and attentive to the movements of the painter who portrays it. The gray coat if Toso has iridescent effects, the tail well groomed and carried long to the hocks as was customary for riding horses.
The invention of the sporting horse brought about a new source of wealth for England which widely involved the artistic panorama. The Animalier genre is the aesthetic testimony that reflects the social life of an era more than other themes.

“Bibliography:”The dictionary of Victorians Painters” C. Wood

The dictionary of British Animal painters

Insights

Associate seller

people

have viewed this article in the last 30 minutes.