Stable Interior, Tethart Philip Christian Haag, 1780

pen, h 329mm × w 265mm More details

This heavyset horse of Polish and Spanish bloodlines was bred in the royal stud farm at Frederiksborg Castle in Denmark. The artist drew the animal in the stables of the stadholder’s court in The Hague, where he worked as a portraitist. Ironically, he reaped the most success not with his portraits of people, but with his paintings and drawings of horses – whether or not they included a rider or stable hand.