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    Open today 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
    Admission is always free

    6th and Constitution Ave NW 
    Washington, DC 20565

    Ice Rink at the Sculpture Garden

    Step into a winter wonderland.

    Learn more

  • Exhibitions & Events

    • Exhibitions
    • Calendar
    • Kid-Friendly Events

    Featured exhibition:

    The Stars We Do Not See: Australian Indigenous Art

    Now on view

  • Art & Artists

    • Artworks
    • Artists
    • Stories
    • Games and Interactives
    • Educational Resources
    • Research

    Artle

    A refreshed experience for our puzzle game

    Today's puzzle

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  • Visit

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    • Visiting with Kids
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    Open today 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
    Admission is always free

    6th and Constitution Ave NW 
    Washington, DC 20565

    Ice Rink at the Sculpture Garden

    Step into a winter wonderland.

    Learn more

  • Exhibitions & Events

    • Exhibitions
    • Calendar
    • Kid-Friendly Events

    Featured exhibition:

    The Stars We Do Not See: Australian Indigenous Art

    Now on view

  • Art & Artists

    • Artworks
    • Artists
    • Stories
    • Games and Interactives
    • Educational Resources
    • Research

    Artle

    A refreshed experience for our puzzle game

    Today's puzzle

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    Maison Mortuaire

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    Two men hold the mouth of a horse open to work on its teeth as a third, short boy or man looks on in front of a building to our left, where a blacksmith works in this vertical painting. All the people have peach-colored skin. A dark horse with a white stripe down its nose stands in a small, shed-like enclosure covered with a peaked roof, which is attached to the brick blacksmith’s shop. A balding man with a white beard and fringe of white hair, and wearing glasses, a tattered crimson-red shirt, and dark pants, holds a long, rod-like instrument in the horse’s gaping mouth. A hat lies on the ground near his feet. The man next to him is cleanshaven and wears a tall hat, a dark jacket with red sleeves, and dark pants and boots. He stands facing the horse with his mouth and eyes wide open. The horse’s nose is caught in long-handled, vice-like tongs, presumably to make the horse show its teeth. A noticeably shorter man or boy stands behind the pair, to our right, and looks on. He wears a tall, floppy hat, and his dark clothes are worn. His face is deep in shadow under the hat but he might have a mustache and beard. A white horse stands with its rump angled toward us behind the trio. Almost lost in shadow, a wide-shouldered man works on a hot piece of metal, glowing orange, next to a fire just inside the doorway to the building. Charcoal-gray smoke pours from a chimney on the roof. One dog lies down in front of the door and another frolics nearby. A chicken and a rooster peck at the dirt ground to our right. The horizon of the tree-lined landscape comes about a quarter of the way up the composition, and cream-colored, puffy clouds float across a blue sky above. Two people stands near a cow in the deep distance, near the trees.
    Paulus Potter, A Farrier's Shop, 1648, oil on panel, Widener Collection, 1942.9.52

    A Farrier's Shop

    A Farrier's Shop

    Paulus Potter · 1648 · oil on panel ·  Accession ID  1942.9.52

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