A Farrier's Shop
Paulus Potter·1648
Historical Context
Paulus Potter painted A Farrier's Shop in 1648, one of his remarkably detailed depictions of animals and rural Dutch life. Potter, who died at just twenty-eight, was the greatest animal painter of the Dutch Golden Age, famous for his life-sized Bull in the Mauritshuis. This scene of a working farrier's shop combines his extraordinary skill in painting horses with genre painting's interest in the daily life of craftsmen and laborers.
Technical Analysis
Potter's oil on panel achieves extraordinary naturalism in the rendering of horses, with precise attention to anatomy, coat texture, and the effects of light on different surfaces. The careful observation of the workshop setting and tools demonstrates his commitment to documentary realism.
Provenance
Dominique Bertrand Clemens, Ghent; (his sale, Salle de la Confrerie de Saint George, Ghent, 23 September 1777 and days following, no. 49; bought in). his brother, Jacques Clemens, canon of St. Bavo's Cathedral [1713-1779], Ghent; (his sale, Maison Mortuaire, Ghent, 21 June 1779 and days following, no. 212); Neijman, Amsterdam. Johan Philip de Monté, Utrecht; his widow; (her sale, A. Lamme, Rotterdam, 4-5 July 1825, no. 1); (Lambert Jean Nieuwenhuys, Brussels).[1] Comte François-Alexandre-Charles Perregaux [1791-1837], Paris; (his estate sale, Galerie Le Brun, Paris, 8-9 December 1841, no. 26); George. Madame Autran, Marseille, by 1867. (Charles Sedelmeyer, Paris), in 1898. M. Rodolphe Kann [d. 1905], Paris and Marseilles, by 1900; purchased 1907 with the entire Kann collection by (Duveen Brothers, Inc., London, New York, and Paris); sold 1909 to Peter A.B. Widener, Lynnewood Hall, Elkins Park, Pennsylvania; inheritance from Estate of Peter A.B. Widener by gift through power of appointment of Joseph E. Widener, Elkins Park, Pennsylvania; gift 1942 to NGA. [1] An annotated copy of the De Monté sale catalogue states that Nieuwenhuys purchased the picture for 7,100 guilders. For a discussion of the sale and L.J. Nieuwenhuys' purchase of the work, see Charles J. Nieuwenhuys, _A Review of the Lives and Works of Some of the Most Eminent Painters_, London, 1834, 186-188.
