Lady and Gentleman on Horseback

c. 1655, reworked 1660/1665

Aelbert Cuyp

Artist, Dutch, 1620 - 1691

An elegantly dressed man and woman ride horses toward us and to our right in a landscape with low, rolling hills, stone buildings, and trees in this horizontal painting. The two horses and riders take up the right half of the composition. Both people have pale skin and look at us. The woman has a high forehead, a straight nose, a round face, and curly blond hair falling to her shoulders. She wears a sapphire-blue dress with slashed sleeves to reveal a white garment beneath. Her hat is adorned with blue and white feathers, and she wears a string of pearls around her neck. The legs of her white horse darken to black below the knees, and the bridle is tied with blue bows near the horse’s ears. The sidesaddle sits on a woven, rug-like blanket. Next to her, to our right, the man rides a larger chestnut-brown horse with a white triangle between its eyes. The man looks at us out of the corners of his dark eyes under gathered brows. He has a long, straight nose and is cleanshaven, though a hint of a five o’clock shadow slightly darkens his cleft chin. His light brown hair falls in curls down past his shoulders, and he wears a dark brown coat with voluminous white fabric rippling out above tan-colored gloves. He holds a riding crop in his right hand, on our left, resting against his hip. Near the white horse’s feet, to our left, a dark brown dog with a white nose sniffs at a plant. Behind it, another reddish-brown dog sniffs the ground near the horse’s back hoof. A third dog stands beyond, partially obscured by bushes and plants growing in the lower left corner of the canvas. A man wearing a tall black, wide-brimmed hat and carrying a long staff leads two slender dogs resembling grayhounds on leashes along the path, a little behind the riders. Two more elegantly dressed men ride horses toward us father back on the path. Sand-colored stone buildings, hazy in the distance, are clustered around a squared tower, possibly a bell tower, to our left. The land dips gently to the horizon line in the deep distance. The riders are silhouetted against a swirling slate-blue cloud that fills most of the sky in the top two-thirds of the painting. The sky clears to pale blue to our left and then warms to golden yellow along the horizon, beyond the buildings. The artist signed the painting near the lower left corner: “A. Cuijp.”

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This large double portrait on horseback is unusual in Dutch art, because equestrian likenesses were initially reserved for sitting monarchs. Traditional portrait convention would have placed the woman to the left and slightly behind the man, yet this elegant lady on her magnificent steed occupies center stage. The identity of the sitters has not been confirmed, but the woman’s prominence indicates her high socioeconomic status. It has been suggested that this double portrait was commissioned in 1654 to celebrate the marriage of Adriaen Stevensz Snouck with Erkenraad Matthisdr Berk, daughter of Aelbert Cuyp’s patron Matthijs Berk, who served as Dordrecht’s chief representative in the States General.

Cuyp originally included a larger hunting party, but then reworked and simplified the composition and modified the two figures. The burdock plants at the left, for instance, conceal several dogs under the overpaint. The man originally wore a bright red military-style tunic and cloak, plus a hat atop his shorter hair, while the woman’s shoulders used to be covered with a plain flat collar. The more refined attire of the woman’s costume points to the shift away from sober black toward the more opulent French style that became fashionable in about 1660. The imaginary background recalls the castles and monasteries that Cuyp had sketched during an earlier trip up the Rhine river valley into Germany.

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Artwork overview

  • Medium

    oil on canvas

  • Credit Line

    Widener Collection

  • Dimensions

    overall: 123 x 172 cm (48 7/16 x 67 11/16 in.)
    framed: 164.8 x 214 x 16.2 cm (64 7/8 x 84 1/4 x 6 3/8 in.)

  • Accession

    1942.9.15

More About this Artwork

Scholarly Article:  Dutch Paintings of the Seventeenth Century: Lady and Gentleman on Horseback, c. 1655, reworked 1660/1665

This horizontal painting shows a group of eight light-skinned musicians and onlookers gathered closely around a rectangular, carpet-covered table. The front edge of the table runs parallel to the bottom edge of the painting, and seems close to us. Shown from about the waist up, the men and women’s vivid lapis-blue, coral-red, buttercup-yellow, lilac-purple, and moss-green garments fall in crisp folds. Bright reflections on the fabric suggest a satin-like material. Two women wear feathers in their hair and one man’s hat is plumed. One man, wearing crimson red and black, sits with his back to us to our left on the near side of the table. He holds the neck of a bass viol, about the size of a cello, with his left hand, and points to pages of an open music book with the bow in his right hand. The other people cluster on the far side of the table. A man to the left plays a violin; a woman at the center plays a guitar-sized bandora, and a woman to our right plays a lute. The musicians, along with a man who leans over the table from between the two women, look down at the music books. A young man behind the woman at the center holds up a glass of pale liquid with his right hand as he touches his left forefinger to his smiling lips. A man and woman stand close together in the background to our right, in the top right corner of the canvas.

Scholarly Series:  Dutch Paintings of the Seventeenth Century

Artwork history & notes

Provenance

(Thomas Emmerson [c. 1776-1855], London) before 1834.[1] purchased through Henry Artaria by Edmund Higginson [1802-1871], Saltmarshe Castle, near Bromyard, Herefordshire, before 1842;[2] (his sale, Christie & Manson, London, 4 June 1846, no. 212, as The Departure for the Chase, bought in); (his sale, Christie, Manson & Woods, London, 16 June 1860, no. 34, as The Departure for the Chase); (Charles J. Nieuwenhuys, Brussels and London). Adrian John Hope [1811-1863], London; (his estate sale, Christie, Manson & Woods, London, 30 June 1894, no. 22, as Grand Landscape); (Charles J. Wertheimer, London). (Charles Sedelmeyer, Paris); sold 1894 to Peter A.B. Widener, Lynnewood Hall, Elkins Park, Pennsylvania;[3] 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] John Smith describes the painting as “formerly in the possession of Thomas Emmerson, Esq.” (John Smith, A Catalogue Raisonné of the Works of the Most Eminent Dutch, Flemish and French Painters, 9 vols., London, 1829–1842: 5[1834]: no. 177). Emmerson was apparently a dealer and collector, and the first auction of paintings in which he was the only seller took place in London in 1829. There were several other sales of paintings in his possession, from the 1830s through the 1850s, but the Gallery’s painting has not been found in any of the catalogues.
[2] John Smith, A Catalogue Raisonné of the Works of the Most Eminent Dutch, Flemish and French Painters, 9 vols., London, 1829–1842: 9(1842):664.
[3] Widener Collection records, in NGA curatorial files.

Associated Names

Exhibition History

2001

  • Aelbert Cuyp, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.; The National Gallery, London; Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, 2001-2002, no. 40, repro.

Bibliography

1829

  • Smith, John. A Catalogue Raisonné of the Works of the Most Eminent Dutch, Flemish and French Painters. 9 vols. London, 1829-1842: 5(1834):334, no. 177; 9(1842):664, no. 48.

1885

  • _ Catalogue of Paintings Forming the Collection of P.A.B. Widener, Ashbourne, near Philadelphia_. 2 vols. Paris, 1885-1900: 2(1900):142.

1894

  • Richter, Jean Paul. "Versteigerung der Adrian Hope-Sammlung in London." Repertorium für Kunstwissenschaft 17 (June 1894): 331.

1898

  • Sedelmeyer, Charles. Illustrated Catalogue of 300 Paintings by Old Masters of the Dutch, Flemish, Italian, French, and English schools, being some of the principal pictures which have at various time formed part of the Sedelmeyer Gallery. Paris, 1898: 18-19, no. 9.

1907

  • Hofstede de Groot, Cornelis. A Catalogue Raisonné of the Works of the Most Eminent Dutch Painters of the Seventeenth Century. 8 vols. Translated by Edward G. Hawke. London, 1907-1927: 2(1909):183-184, no. 618.

  • Hofstede de Groot, Cornelis. Beschreibendes und kritisches Verzeichnis der Werke der hervorragendsten holländischen Maler des XVII. Jahrhunderts. 10 vols. Esslingen and Paris, 1907-1928: 2(1908):174, no. 618.

1913

  • Hofstede de Groot, Cornelis, and Wilhelm R. Valentiner. Pictures in the collection of P. A. B. Widener at Lynnewood Hall, Elkins Park, Pennsylvania: Early German, Dutch & Flemish Schools. Philadelphia, 1913: unpaginated, repro.

1914

  • Sedelmeyer, Charles. Hundred masterpieces. A selection from the pictures by old masters which form or have formed part of the Sedelmeyer Gallery. Paris, 1914: 6, no. 1, repro.

1923

  • Paintings in the Collection of Joseph Widener at Lynnewood Hall. Intro. by Wilhelm R. Valentiner. Elkins Park, Pennsylvania, 1923: unpaginated, repro.

1927

  • Staatliche Gemäldegalerie. Katalog der Staatlichen Gemäldegalerie zu Dresden. 11th ed. Dresden, 1927: 571.

1930

  • Holmes, Jerrold. "The Cuyps in America." Art in America 18, no. 4 (June 1930): 168, 181, 185, no. 35.

1931

  • Paintings in the Collection of Joseph Widener at Lynnewood Hall. Intro. by Wilhelm R. Valentiner. Elkins Park, Pennsylvania, 1931: 36, repro.

1942

  • National Gallery of Art. Works of art from the Widener collection. Washington, 1942: 5.

1948

  • National Gallery of Art. Paintings and Sculpture from the Widener Collection. Washington, 1948 (reprinted 1959): 56, repro.

1953

  • Reiss, Stephen. "Aelbert Cuyp." The Burlington Magazine 95, no. 599 (February 1953): 45, pl. 14.

1965

  • National Gallery of Art. Summary Catalogue of European Paintings and Sculpture. Washington, 1965: 35.

1968

  • National Gallery of Art. European Paintings and Sculpture, Illustrations. Washington, 1968: 28, repro.

1974

  • Broos, Ben P. J. "Rembrandt’s Portrait of a Pole and His Horse." Simiolus 7, no. 4 (1974): 198 n. 9.

1975

  • Reiss, Stephen. Aelbert Cuyp. Boston, 1975: 165, no. 124, repro.

  • European Paintings: An Illustrated Summary Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1975: 90, repro.

  • Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington. New York, 1975: 298-299, color repro.

1979

  • Dumas, Charles. In het Zadel: het Nederlands Ruiterportret van 1550-1900. Exh. cat. Fries Museum, Leeuwarden; Noordbrabants Museum, 's-Hertogenbosch; Provinciaal Museum van Drenthe, Assen. 's-Hertogenbosch, 1979: 104-105, no. 69, repro.

1984

  • Wright, Christopher. Catalogue of Old Master Paintings from a Private Collection in the United States. Bradford and London, 1984: 12, 27.

  • Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington. Rev. ed. New York, 1984: 298, no. 397, color repro.

1985

  • National Gallery of Art. European Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. Washington, 1985: 110, repro.

1986

  • Sutton, Peter C. A Guide to Dutch Art in America. Washington and Grand Rapids, 1986: 306.

1992

  • Chong, Alan. "Aelbert Cuyp and the Meanings of Landscape." Ph.D. dissertation, New York University, 1992: no. 148.

1995

  • Wheelock, Arthur K., Jr. Dutch Paintings of the Seventeenth Century. The Collections of the National Gallery of Art Systematic Catalogue. Washington, 1995: 50-56, color repro. 53.

2001

  • Wheelock, Arthur K., Jr. Aelbert Cuyp. Exh. cat. National Gallery of Art, Washington; National Gallery, London; Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam. Washington, 2001: no. 40, 172-175, 207, repro.

2004

  • Hand, John Oliver. National Gallery of Art: Master Paintings from the Collection. Washington and New York, 2004: 189, no. 150, color repro.

2016

  • Van Eikema Hommes, Margriet, Ruud Lambour, Bianca M. Du Mortier, Marieke de Winkel, Gwen Taurer, Matthias Alfeld, Koen Janssens, and Joris Dik. "The Hidden Youth of Dirck Jacobsz Leeuw: A Portrait of Govert Flinck Revealed." The Rijksmuseum Bulletin 64, no. 1 (2016): 27, fig. 26, 56 n. 67.

Inscriptions

lower left: A.Cuijp.

Wikidata ID

Q20177394

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