A saddled horse
1750
From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art
1750
From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art
A saddled horse is a 1750 by Unknown, a Baroque work, depicting Horse, held at Cleveland Museum of Art.
You see a brown horse with a red saddle, standing still against a plain background. Its muscles and veins are drawn with thin, careful lines. This horse wasn’t meant to be alone. It was part of royal portraits or musical picture series from the Pahari kingdoms in northern India. Artists there practiced drawing horses over and over, using just black ink on paper, until they could show every detail. To see more horses like this, look up northern India, Pahari kingdoms.
Horses were important components in royal portraiture, processions, ragamalas (series of images pertaining to verses that correspond to musical systems), and narrative scenes. Pahari artists perfected their ability to depict horses by sketching with brush and black pigment on handmade paper.
White pigment was used to cover lines that the artist considered to be less than perfect.
Read the full account in the museum source.
Your cart is empty
Explore artworks →
