Terms and conditions of use
Departure for the chase
(late 1640s)
Medium
oil on on wood panel
Measurements
41.0 × 42.9 cm
Credit Line
Bequest of Robert Victor Jones, 2026
© Public Domain
Gallery location
17th Century & Flemish Paintings Gallery
Level 2, NGV International
About this work
Philips Wouwerman made a profitable living painting small ‘cabinet pictures’ of this scale, which were perfect for display in affluent but modestly sized homes in mid seventeenth-century Haarlem. He became renowned for his skill at depicting horses in both combat scenes and gentler narratives such as this one, where three brown and piebald steeds are shown with
convincing proportions and foreshortening. The Italianate feel to this complex and dynamic scene of revellers departing from a boisterous inn reflects the influence of Pieter van Laer in particular, a painter from Haarlem who worked in Rome for almost fifteen years. He returned to Haarlem in 1639, just as Wouwerman was completing his own training as an artist.