Philips Wouwerman, 'The Interior of a Stable', probably 1655-60

The Interior of a Stable

Philips Wouwerman

Room 23

About the work

Overview

Stables were found everywhere in the seventeenth century – but this is no ordinary one. A peacock is perched on a branch at the entrance. Outside, there’s part of a weathered but grand building; birds nest on its roof and climbing plants drift over windows. The entrance and the trees give an air of age and continuity. This is the stable of an old aristocratic household, with its many grooms, stable boys and coachmen.

Wouwerman seems to have enjoyed painting scenes in rich but subtle colours – like the lush yellow jacket of the rider with his back to us, the detail of the black blot on the white horse’s rump and its red rosette. And he portrays many little incidents in one picture, giving us lots to discover, to interpret, to discuss and come back to.

In-depth

Stables were found everywhere in the seventeenth century – but this is no ordinary one. A peacock is perched on a branch at the entrance. Outside, there’s part of a weathered but grand building; birds nest on its roof and climbing plants drift over windows. The entrance and the trees give an air of age and continuity. All are clues to the kind of establishment this is: the stable of an old aristocratic household, with its many grooms, stable boys and coachmen.

At first, it seem almost too dark to see the cavernous inside of the stable – as if you need to take a moment for your eyes to adjust to the shadows, as you would if you were there. The spirited white pony with the scarlet rosette and the black blot on its rump grabs our attention. It paws the ground, its princely little head nods; its mane looks almost blow-dried into crisp waves. The lush yellow jacket and hat with curled feathers worn by the mounted horseman beside the pony is the next bright spot of colour to catch the eye. He leans to the side to bring his horse to a halt and seems to glance down at the transaction going on below him – a visitor, perhaps, tipping one of the stable boys for looking after his mount.

Outside, on the left, a woman gets water from a well; Wouwerman draws attention to the detail of the pulley overhead by her raised hand. A horse is led into the stable, and behind it a fine grey mare carries in a woman wearing silk, lace and feathers. On the far right side of the space, chickens cluck about for scraps and more horses wait their turn to be groomed. But there’s fun to be had in the stable too: a lad, probably the son of a stable boy, rides a frisky goat, while a woman tends its kid.

Wouwerman seems to have enjoyed using rich but subtle colours to paint scenes that give the viewer lots to discover, to interpret, and to discuss and return to. His skill in the portrayal of horses was supreme – his favourite, the white horse, appears in many of his pictures (look at A White Horse and an Old Man binding Faggots and Two Horsemen at a Gipsy Encampment, One having his Fortune told). This skill and his ability to capture the genuinely expressive movement of the human body and face brought him enormous popularity in his own time and long after, and can still delight today.

Key facts

Details

Full title: The Interior of a Stable
Artist: Philips Wouwerman
Artist dates: 1619 - 1668
Date made: probably 1655-60
Medium and support: oil on canvas
Dimensions: 47 × 67 cm
Inscription summary: Signed
Acquisition credit: Bought, 1871
Inventory number: NG879
Location: Room 23
Collection: Main Collection
Previous owners: Sir Robert Peel, 2nd Bt
Frame: 21st-century Replica Frame

Provenance

In the Servad sale, Amsterdam, 25 June 1778 (lot 121), bought by Fouquet (3,300 francs); Comte de Merle sale, Paris, 1 sqq. March 1784 (lot 62), bought by Le Rouge (7,900 francs). It was apparently exhibited at the BI in 1818, lent by William Smith, MP. In the George Watson Taylor sale, London, 13–14 June 1823 (2nd day, lot 59), bought by Emmerson (530 gns); in the collection of (Sir) Robert Peel (Bart.) by 1829. Purchased with the Peel collection, 1871.

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.

Exhibition history

2009

Philips Wouwerman (1619-1668): Von Pferden und anderen Leidenschaften

Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister (Kassel)

1 July 2009 - 11 October 2009

Mauritshuis

12 November 2009 - 28 February 2010

Bibliography

1784

Paillet, Catalogue des tableaux qui composent le cabinet de M. le comte de Merle, par A. J. Paillet, celui des vases, Paris, 1 March 1784
1823

J. Christie, A Catalogue of the Very Distinguished Collection of Italian, French, Flemish, Dutch and English Pictures… of George Watson Taylor, Esq., London, 13 June 1823 - 14 June 1823
1830

J. Smith, A Catalogue Raisonné of the Works of the Most Eminent Dutch, Flemish, and French Painters: In Which is Included a Short Biographical Notice of the Artists, with a Copious Description of Their Principal Pictures […], vol. 2, London 1830
1844

A.M. Jameson, Companion to the Most Celebrated Private Galleries of Art in London: Containing Accurate Catalogues, Arranged Alphabetically, for Immediate Reference, Each Preceded by an Historical & Critical Introduction […], London 1844
1854

G.F. Waagen, Treasures of Art in Great Britain: Being and Account of the Chief Collections of Paintings, Drawings, Sculptures, Illuminated Mss. […], vol. 2, trans. E. Eastlake, London 1854
1907

C. Hofstede de Groot, Catalogue Raisonné of the Works of the Most Eminent Dutch Painters of the Seventeenth Century, 10 vols, London 1907
1960

Maclaren, Neil, National Gallery Catalogues: The Dutch School, 2 vols, London 1960
1991

Maclaren, 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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Philips Wouwerman has captured the violence and cruelty of battle as it was in seventeenth-century Europe, when Holland was closely involved in the wars that raged across the continent. Most of the scene is in shadow, with details picked out in one or two flashes of colour: a horse’s rump, a red...

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There is a cold grey dawn, but a promise of winter sun as the wind sweeps away the clouds on a Dutch seashore. A young horseman leans down towards a woman kneeling in the shadow of his mount – she holds a large fish up towards him. A patch of light picks out the white apron of a red-cheeked woman...

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Two Horsemen at a Gipsy Encampment

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Smoke seems to mingle with the clouds in this dramatic scene of Gypsies round a fire against a background of distant mountains and closer hills. Strong women carry babies slung round them in shawls, and here and there a man’s turban is visible. An old man tends the fire.A woman with a baby on her...

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Two Vedettes on the Watch by a Stream

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In the Netherlands in the seventeenth century a vedette was a mounted sentry usually placed near an outpost – here, two of them are on watch by a stream. Wouwerman captures their watchfulness by turning their backs to us, making them look in opposite directions and leaning them forward as if they...

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Cavalry attacking Infantry

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Philips Wouwerman was famous in his time for his skill at depicting horses in many different situations – at rest in the stable, being shod in the forge, out hunting or, as here, in the frenzy of battle. In what is a relatively small painting – not by Wouwerman himself but produced in his studio...

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You've viewed 6 of 11 works

Philips Wouwerman, 'The Interior of a Stable', probably 1655-60

About the work

Overview

In-depth

Key facts

Details

Provenance

Additional information

Source

Exhibition history

Bibliography

About this record

Images

More works by Philips Wouwerman