Landscape with Horse Trainers

Artist Aelbert Cuyp (Dutch, 1620-1691)

Place of OriginNetherlands

Dateabout 1655 or 1660

Dimensions46 3/4 x 67 in. (118.7 x 170.2 cm)

Mediumoil on canvas

ClassificationPaintings

Credit LinePurchased with funds from the Libbey Endowment, Gift of Edward Drummond Libbey

Object number

1960.2

On View

Toledo Museum of Art (2445 Monroe Street), Gallery, 23

Label TextThe dying light of evening, casting long shadows and a golden haze over the landscape, was a specialty of Aelbert Cuyp and is particularly striking in this painting. Cuyp combines the low horizon and prominent sky of local Dutch landscapes with aspects of Italian-inspired landscapes, such as the shepherd, broken columns, classical sculpture, and the mountain. Probably painted for a wealthy family in Dordrecht, the painting shows a school for training horses in the system of precise movements known as dressage, an aristocratic refinement of horsemanship that was first formalized in the 1600s. Under the supervision of the mounted riding master at the right, a horse is being taught the levade, in which the animal rises on its hind legs. It has not quite mastered the maneuver, however, since its front legs should be tucked in close to its body. The horse’s mistake perhaps accounts for the agitation of one of the grooms.Published ReferencesHoubraken, A., De groote Schouburgh der Nederlantsche Konstschilders en Schilderssen..., Amsterdam, 1718-1721, I, p. 248. Hoet, G., Catalogus of Naamlyst van Schilderyn..., The Hague, 1752, II, p. 495. Smith, J., A Catalogue Raisonné of the Works of the Most Eminent Dutch, Flemish and French Painters, London, 1834, V, p. 288, no. 11. Waagen, G., Treasures of Art in Great Britain, London, 1854, III, p. 309.

Hofstede de Groot, C., A Catalogue Raisonne of the Works of the Most Eminent Dutch Painters of the Seventeenth Century Based on the Work of John Smith, London, 1907, II, nos. 448, 615.

Hutton, W., "Aelbert Cuyp, The Riding Lesson," Toledo Museum of Art Museum News, IV, No. 4, Autumn 1961, pp. 79-85.

Würzbach, Niederlandsches Künstler-Lexikon, I, p. 367.

"Cronache," Emporium, Rivista Mensile d'Arte a di Culture, no. 804, December 1961, repr. p. 270.

A Guide to the Toledo Museum of Art, Toledo, 1966, repr. (col.).

Wittmann, Otto, "The Golden Age in the Netherlands," Apollo, vol. 86, no. 70, December 1967, p. 469, repr. fig. 11, p. 472.

Stechow, W., Dutch Landscape Painting of the Seventeenth Century, London, 1968, p. 162.

Reiss, S., Aelbert Cuyp, London, 1975, no. 135, repr. (as late 1650s).

The Toledo Museum of Art: A Guide to the Collections, Toledo, 1976, repr. p. 59 (col.).

The Toledo Museum of Art, The Toledo Museum of Art, European Paintings, Toledo, 1976, pp. 46-47, pl. 121, color pl. VII.

Salerno, Luigi, Pittori di paesaggio del seicento a Roma, Rome, 1980, vol. 2, p. 66, vol. 3, fig. 18 (in reference to Jan Both).

Duparc, Frederik J., Italian recollections: Dutch painters of the Golden Age, Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, 1990, p. 110, fig. 45.

Meyere, J. de, Utrecht op schilderijen: zes eeuw topografische voorstellingen van de stad Utrecht, Utrecht 1988, p. 20, fig. 2.

Sutton, P. "Recent Patterns of Public and Private Collecting of Dutch Art," in Great Dutch Paintings from America, The Hague; Mauritshuis, 1990, p. 106 (erroneously as from The Hermitage).

Liedtke, Walter, The royal horse and rider, New York, 1989, pp. 102 (n. 29), 302, repr.

WIlliams, Julia Lloyd, "The tulips and the thistle," The Antique Collector, vol. 63, no. 7, July/August 1992, p. 52, fig. 3 (col.) p. 51.

Koch-Hillebrecht, Manfred, Museen in den USA: Gemalde, Munich, 1992, p. 232.

Sutton, Peter C., Masters of the 17th Century Dutch Landscape Painting, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, 1987, p. 46.

The Toledo Museum of Art, Toledo treasures, Toledo, 1995, p. 97, repr. (col).

Wheelock, Arthur K., Dutch paintings of the seventeenth century, Washington D.C., 1995, p. 48, 50, no. 16, 17, fig. 3.

Yeide, Nancy H., Beyond the dreams of Avarice: the Hermann Goering Collection, Dallas, Laurel Publishing, 2009, A746, p. 329, repr. p. 113.

Toledo Museum of Art, Toledo Museum of Art Masterworks, Toledo, 2009, p. 168, repr. (col.).

Exhibition HistoryEdinburgh, Royal Institution, Ancient Pictures, 1826, no. 60.

London, Royal Academy, Winter Exhibition, 1883, no. 238.

Edinburgh, 1883, no. 276.

London, National Gallery, 1992.

Edinburgh, National Gallery of Scotland, Dutch Art and Scotland, a Reflection of Taste, 1992, no. 15, p. 76, repr. (col.).

Washington, National Gallery of Art; London, National Gallery of Art; Amsterdam, Rijksmuseum, Aelbert Cuyp, 2001-2002, no. 39, pp. 40, 42, 47, 48, 58, 156, 168, 170, 206, repr. p. 53 (det., col.), p. 171 (col.).