In front of an inn
(c. 1644-1645)
Medium
oil on wood panel
Measurements
50.5 × 44.3 cm
Credit Line
National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
Felton Bequest, 1933
Gallery location
17th Century & Flemish Paintings Gallery
Level 2, NGV International
About this work
In 1679 the German artist Matthias Schits observed that ‘the ingenious painter Philips Wouwerman of Haarlem, whose father was a bad painter, achieved renown at an early age’. Wouwerman joined the Haarlem painters’ Guild of Saint Luke at the age of twenty-one in 1640, at a time of great prosperity in this Dutch city. Active in civic life, he was a member of the Saint George militia company, which was tasked with firefighting as well as defence; and he supplemented his income as an artist through property speculation. In this early ‘rider halt’ composition, where Wouwerman has not yet developed his later mastery at depicting horses, a small white bird and its coop provide a grace note above a wayside inn.
Artwork Details
Place/s of Execution
Haarlem, the Netherlands
Inscription
inscribed in brown paint l.r.: PH.W (monogram)
Accession Number
4730-3
Department
International Painting
This digital record has been made available on NGV Collection Online through the generous support of Digitisation Champion Dame Carol Colburn-Grigor CBE through Metal Manufactures Limited
Subjects (general)
Daily Life Human Figures Landscapes
Subjects (specific)
dog (species) horse (species) hunters (people) inns (built works) livestock roads rural areas