Horse Stable

A dappled gray horse feeds quietly at a wooden manger while a groom brushes its coat; a blanket and bridle hang from the pole in the foreground and a pitchfork, broom and pail fill out the orderly stable. To the right a fashionably dressed woman appears in a doorway that opens into the farmhouse, and light falling through the open door catches the animal at the centre of the composition — as the museum observes, the horse is the painting’s true subject. Valued possessions of prosperous Dutch households, domestic animals were painted with care by the country’s finest masters, and ter Borch — celebrated for the subtlety of his compositions and the delicacy of his colour — builds the scene in warm browns and grays, brightened by the red accents of the groom’s hat, the woman’s skirt and the brick wall at the left. The painting is held in the J. Paul Getty Museum.