Paard liggend in het gras, naar rechts 1815

Jean Bernard created this red chalk drawing of a horse lying in the grass sometime around 1815. The artwork presents a seemingly simple scene, but the image of the horse in repose speaks to the changing relationship between humans and animals during the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Drawn in the Netherlands, this sketch reflects an increasing interest in the natural world associated with the Romantic movement. The detailed rendering and quiet observation invite the viewer to appreciate the animal as an individual. But this was also a period when agricultural practices were intensifying. Horses were essential for transportation and farming, yet often treated as commodities. Drawings like this one may reflect an unease about those social structures. Art historians can investigate these contexts through estate records, agricultural manuals, and other visual and textual sources. Only then can we better understand how representations of animals participated in debates about labor, land, and the moral status of non-human beings.