Studio of Sir Peter Paul Rubens (Siegen 1577 - Antwerp 1640)
A Study of Horsemen in Three Positions c.1610-15
Oil on panel | 36.0 x 65.7 cm (support, canvas/panel/stretcher external) | RCIN 404806
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All early references to this fascinating panel attribute it to Van Dyck, though in fact it must come from Rubens’s studio during an earlier period (c. 1610-5). It has the technique of a Rubens oil sketch and shows three positions of horse and rider which appear often in Rubens’s work, yet it is not good enough to be by Rubens himself. The most likely explanation is that it is the result of a training exercise c. 1610-5 during which a pupil in Rubens’s studio copied a now lost oil sketch by the master. This lost oil sketch is probably the basis for the large scale painting, also probably from Rubens’s studio (formerly in the Kaiser Friedrich Museum, Berlin).
Provenance
Purchased by George IV from Sir Thomas Baring as part of a group of 86 Dutch and Flemish paintings, most of which were collected by Sir Thomas’s father, Sir Francis Baring; they arrived at Carlton House on 6 May 1814; recorded in the Anti Room, Ground Floor, at Carlton House in 1819 (no 134); in the Picture Gallery at Buckingham Palace in 1841 (no 36)
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Creator(s)
(nationality)Acquirer(s)
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Medium and techniques
Oil on panel
Measurements
36.0 x 65.7 cm (support, canvas/panel/stretcher external)
53.6 x 82.9 x 5.0 cm (frame, external)
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