London, Thos. Agnew & Sons, The Houghton Pictures, 6May – 6 June 1959, p. 28, no. 33.

In open, hilly countryside, a hunting party has pulled up by a river: two dogs drink thirstily from the fast-flowing water.  A young woman in a brilliant yellow dress, seated sideways on a grey horse, immediately captures our gaze.  She exchanges words with her male companion, who has dismounted and stands beside her with his horse.  A young page, wearing red and yellow livery and a feathered cap, stands before them, holding a hawk on one hand and a dog on a leash with the other.  A dead stag, a trophy of the morning’s sport, is being lifted onto a horse by two servants.  A sword and hunting horn lie on the ground nearby.  Another servant attends to the horse of a third hunter, who lies on the ground on the left, exhausted by the day’s exertions.  Beaters with their dogs approach on foot from several directions. 

Philips Wouwerman was the most accomplished seventeenth-century Dutch painter of equestrian scenes.  He developed a wide repertoire of themes to demonstrate his virtuosity at rendering horses.  His subjects include simple, unpretentious scenes of farriers, stables, riding schools and travellers at rest, as well as larger, multi-figured compositions of hunting parties, country fairs, army encampments and cavalry battles.  He was unusually prolific and, despite a relatively short career, left an oeuvre numbering nearly six hundred paintings.  According to his biographer Arnold Houbraken, he died a rich man.

Hunting scenes were Wouwerman’s favourite subjects.  He painted endless variations on the theme throughout his career, exploring every aspect of the sport, from the departure of the hunting party, to the pursuit of diverse types of prey, the rest during the hunt and the return of the hunting party.  The subject not only offered him the opportunity to demonstrate his talents at depicting lively scenes filled with horses and elegantly dressed people, but also met the demands of the market place.  Whilst traditionally hunting had been the exclusive preserve of the nobility and high-ranking officers of state, by the second half of the seventeenth century, the booming Dutch economy had given rise to a newly wealthy urban elite, who aspired to the lifestyle of the old landed aristocracy.  Thus pictures with a hunting theme - whether of hunting itself, still lifes of hunting trophies and accessories, or portraits of sitters in hunting dress – denoted privilege and were eagerly sought by members of this status-conscious class. 

This exceptionally well-preserved painting is a fine illustration of Wouwerman’s talents at the height of his powers.  Although the exact chronology of his mature oeuvre is uncertain owing to the almost complete lack of dated paintings after 1656, this canvas probably dates from around 1655.  By this date, the artist’s tonality had become lighter and his palette more colourful.  During this period, he also turned increasingly to aristocratic hunt scenes, with elegantly dressed couples, attended by pages and servants, set in expansive landscapes.  With its lightness of touch, bright colours, and warm, sunny atmosphere, the present painting displays all the characteristics traits of Wouwerman’s maturity.  

Although already successful in his lifetime, Wouwerman’s reputation rose steadily after his death.  Writing some fifty years later, Houbraken noted that “his paintings fetched a far higher price after his death than in his lifetime”.  His hunting scenes in particular enjoyed great popularity during the eighteenth century in Germany, England and most especially in France. 

BIOGRAPHY

The eldest son of the painter Pauwels Joostsz. Wouwerman, Philips was baptised in Haarlem on 24 May 1619.  His younger brothers, Pieter (1623-1682) and Johannes (1629-1666), also became artists and painted in the style of Philips.  Wouwerman probably took his first instruction in painting from his father.  According to Cornelis de Bie, he subsequently became a pupil of Frans Hals (1582-1666), but there is no trace of Hals’s influence in his work.  In 1638, against the wishes of his family, Wouwerman travelled to Hamburg to marry a Catholic girl named Annetje Pietersdr. van Broeckhof.  While in Hamburg, he worked briefly in the studio of the obscure German history painter Evert Decker.  By 1640, he had returned to Haarlem where he joined the guild.  In 1646, he served as a member of the guild’s executive committee (as vinder or agent).  He seems to have remained in Haarlem for the rest of his life.  He died on 19 May 1668 and was buried in the Nieuwe Kerk in Haarlem.  His wife survived him by less than two years and was interred in St. Bavo’s Church on 24 January 1670. 

Though he lived to be only forty-eight, Wouwerman was one of the most prolific and successful artists of the Dutch Golden Age.  He occasionally painted staffage in the landscapes of Jacob van Ruisdael (1628/9-1682), Jan Wijnants (1632-1684) and Cornelis Decker (1618-1678).  He had numerous pupils and followers and died a wealthy man, leaving a substantial inheritance to his three sons and four daughters.  During the eighteenth century, he became one of the most highly esteemed Dutch painters in Europe: indeed no princely collection was complete without one of his paintings.