Abraham van Calraet, 'The Interior of a Stable', about 1690
About the work
Overview
Paintings depicting the interior of large stables were first made popular by Philips Wouwerman in Haarlem in the 1650s. They tend to depict day-to-day activity in large rural stables – a gentleman horseman, surrounded by his servants. Van Calraet was working 30 to 40 years later in Dordrecht and drew on the work of both Wouwerman and Aelbert Cuyp, another animal specialist.
This picture has similarities with Wouwerman’s The Interior of a Stable, also in the National Gallery’s collection: the predominantly dark background full of figures and activity, hens pecking in the right foreground, an opening to the outside world, a white horse and a mounted horseman in the centre. However, van Calraet created a stronger contrast between light and dark, highlighting the white horse in a more dramatic way. And while the painting by Wouwerman shows a gentleman tipping a groom, van Calraet’s shows a vignette of a mother with three young children, apparently receiving alms from the stable-master.
Key facts
Details
- Full title
- The Interior of a Stable
- Artist
- Abraham van Calraet
- Artist dates
- 1642 - 1722
- Date made
- about 1690
- Medium and support
- oil on wood
- Dimensions
- 39.3 × 57.3 cm
- Inscription summary
- Signed
- Acquisition credit
- Bequeathed by Miss Susannah Caught, 1901
- Inventory number
- NG1851
- Location
- Not on display
- Collection
- Main Collection
Provenance
Additional information
Text extracted from the ‘Provenance’ section of the catalogue entry in Neil MacLaren, revised and expanded by Christopher Brown, ‘National Gallery Catalogues: The Dutch School: 1600–1900’, London 1991; for further information, see the full catalogue entry.
Bibliography
-
1916C.H.C. Baker, 'Two Paintings of Horses', The Burlington Magazine, XXIX/162, 1916, pp. 255-7
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1921National Gallery, National Gallery, Trafalgar Square: Catalogue of the Pictures, London 1921
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1960Maclaren, Neil, National Gallery Catalogues: The Dutch School, 2 vols, London 1960
-
1991Maclaren, Neil, revised by Christopher Brown, National Gallery Catalogues: The Dutch School, 1600-1900, 2nd edn (revised and expanded), 2 vols, London 1991
-
2001
C. Baker and T. Henry, The National Gallery: Complete Illustrated Catalogue, London 2001
About this record
If you know more about this painting or have spotted an error, please contact us. Please note that exhibition histories are listed from 2009 onwards. Bibliographies may not be complete; more comprehensive information is available in the National Gallery Library.
Images
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