Saddle c. 1938

Cornelius Christoffels made this watercolor, of a saddle, sometime in the first half of the 20th century. I love how he’s captured not just the object, but also the *idea* of a saddle. Look at the washes of warm, earthy tones. I can almost feel the artist dabbing and layering, trying to get that leathery texture just right. The details are incredible. Each line seems to vibrate with a life of its own. I’m picturing Christoffels in his studio, totally absorbed, chasing the light as it hits the saddle. Did he own one himself, I wonder? Or was he just drawn to its form, its history, its suggestion of adventure? I think about other painters like, say, Giorgio Morandi who painted bottles, endlessly exploring a single motif, each painting becoming part of a larger conversation. What I love about painting is that an object can turn into a feeling and a thought. We don’t have to know everything, we just have to look!