Die Schwemme

'Die Schwemme' (The Watering Place), painted in 1864 and held in the Bavarian State Painting Collections, depicts horses being watered — a subject with a long tradition in European art from ancient equestrian sculpture through Géricault and into the Romantic period. Von Marées was deeply interested in the horse as a subject for its formal properties: the animal's musculature, mass, and movement offered formal challenges analogous to those of the male nude. In 1864 he was in Rome and had not yet completed the Naples frescoes that would establish his reputation, still working through the influence of his Munich teacher Karl von Piloty. The Schwemme subject — horses led to drink at a pool or river — allowed him to combine figure and animal study in a natural outdoor setting without the anecdotal requirements of genre painting. The motif would return in several later works, including the 'Kleine Pferdeschwemme,' reflecting the subject's continuing formal attraction.

The composition focuses on the volumetric forms of the horses and the figures leading them, with the water surface providing a reflective horizontal plane that adds spatial complexity. Von Marées's handling of the horses' musculature is studied and precise, drawing on systematic anatomical observation. The palette is warm and earthy, consistent with the outdoor setting and with his Munich training.