European Art and Old Masters

Note

Each of these paintings is directly drawn from the manuscript La Méthode et Invention Nouvelle de Dresser les Chevaux par le Très-Noble, Haut, et Très-Puissant Prince Guillaume Marquis et Comte de Newcastle, published in Antwerp in 1658, and which featured the several horses owned by William Cavendish, First Duke of Newcastle. The volume contained forty plates by various engravers made after drawings by Abraham van Diepenbeeck (1596-1675), a Flemish artist and close associate of Rubens, who is said to have worked for Cavendish in England during the reign of Charles I.

While only one of the two works appears as en engraving in the original publication (Welbeck. Mackomilia un Turke, featuring the brown horse with black legs and mane), the two works are depicted in an oil of about 1650 at Wimpole Hall, among four other depictions of the Duke's Manège horses. Considering the matching backgrounds in the Wimpole Hall painting and the present compositions, it is safe to believe they are most likely directly linked to each other, our versions appearing to be contemporary English copies after the original Netherlandish work. Another comparable group of paintings can be seen at the Duke's old seat at Welbeck Abbey, Nottinghamshire. Deriving from the same manuscript source, one of oils is signed 'A. Sijmons f.' which links to the English wax modeller and medallist, Abraham Symons (1617–1692), which is a very unlikely possibility.

We wish to thank the Rijksbureau voor Kunsthistorische Documentatie, also known as R.K.D., for their kind assistance in researching this lot.