Vier aangespannen paarden met twee ruiters 1875 - 1934

Isaac Israels made this drawing of ‘Four Horses with Two Riders’ with pencil on paper. I just love a drawing where the artist is thinking on the page, and you can really see that here! There’s something very immediate about Israels’ mark making, the rapid lines searching to capture the movement and the weight of the horses. The texture of the pencil on the page creates this lovely, almost velvet-like surface. Look at the way he suggests the musculature of the horses with just a few strokes, it's as if the drawing is about to gallop right off the page. The layering of lines around the heads and shoulders of the riders almost obscures them, abstracting the figures within the dynamism of the whole sketch. You can see the influence of artists like Degas, especially in the subject matter and the active, energetic line. But Israels brings his own distinct flair, embracing the unfinished and celebrating the process of seeing and recording.