Hestespand 1847

Johan Thomas Lundbye sketched "Hestespand" with pen and ink on paper. Lundbye, who was born in 1818, came of age during the Danish Golden Age, a period of intense national romanticism. Here, we see two horses. One grazes, its head lowered in humble submission to nature. The other stands tall, its neck erect, as if confronting the world head-on. It is a study of contrasts and the relationship between the natural world and the tamed. Horses, as working animals, would have been a common sight. Their presence speaks to the agricultural roots of Danish society. Lundbye's early death at the age of 29 imbues his work with a sense of longing and unfulfilled potential. This drawing, with its delicate lines, invites us to reflect on the transient beauty of life, and perhaps, the artist's own mortality.