Le cheval dans l’art

It is man’s most noble conquest. It is also, no doubt, the animal that has been most represented in art. He appears in the Lascaux caves, then in the paints or pastels of Gozzoli, Rubens and Degas. Closer to us, agitator Maurizio Cattelan took the liberty of hanging a taxidermised example in a gallery. There is enough to fill a large volume on horses’ artistic misadventures, given here in a chronological order. The civilizations that gave them an important place, such as the Persians, the Romans or the Arabs, are obviously the theme of long chapters, illustrated with bronzes, ivory diptychs, mosaïcs or objects in hammered silver. Themed chapters – horses and war, harnasses, sporting art - enrich the texts and show that the mount may be presented in many different ways. Géricault presented it in a fiery semi-savage race, while the horse almost became an interior ornement for the English in the XVIIIth century.

• Le cheval dans l’art, collective work, Citadelles et Mazenod publishing house, 2008, 400 p., 179 €, ISBN : 978-2-85088-251-7