Trekpaard 1890 - 1946

Here we have Trekpaard, or 'draught horse', a drawing made by Cornelis Vreedenburgh. It's a jumble of lines, a flurry of activity, that come together to evoke a horse, its harness, and whatever it is pulling. I imagine Vreedenburgh standing somewhere, maybe on a bridge, trying to capture the essence of this working animal, the scene unfolding before him. He has tried to capture the weight of the horse, the strain and tension as it works. The black mark on the horse's back – what's that about? Maybe a shadow, maybe a correction, maybe something else entirely. It's a bold move that disrupts the whole image, but it also brings it alive. Vreedenburgh probably knew the work of other artists, other painters of horses. He probably had opinions about their techniques, their approaches. And now, here we are, looking at his work, bringing our own experiences, our own perspectives to the conversation. It's like one big, ongoing art party, and everyone's invited!