The “Piebald” Horse

A grey, spotted horse stands silhouetted against rolling, stormy clouds, turning its head slightly, alert to its surroundings. Paulus Potter, the finest Dutch animal painter of his day, described the animal with scrupulous attention to physical detail — the glossy sheen of its coat and mane, the watery moistness of its eye, the sleekly elegant lines of its body — while giving it an individualized personality that combines wildness with acute sensitivity; the animal seems to answer the distant sound of the hunt in the middle distance. Painted about 1650–54, the canvas may be a horse portrait commissioned by the owner of the country house at the right, the immaculate grooming and cultivated fields speaking of the pride and control a wealthy Dutch landowner took over brute nature. The painting is held in the J. Paul Getty Museum.