From Troyon’s farm animals going to market, through Queen Victoria’s favourite artist, African elephants in the wild, to monkeys, and cattle in the sunshine.
Eckenfelder
From two pairs of unicorns drawing the Duke and Duchess of Urbino to a horse-drawn fire engine racing through the countryside, how animals have drawn people everywhere.
Chillon Castle, Lake Geneva, Éragny Manor, a mansion in New York City, Kelmscott Manor (home of William Morris), Florence Griswold’s home in Old Lyme, CT, and more.
From 1880, Naturalism showed rural deprivation, but active farmyards with plenty of livestock. Then in the 20th century came the tractor.
Another boating party, William Merritt Chase’s family in Brooklyn, an 18th century pique-nique, and Bonnard’s friends by the sea.
A party of landsfolk riding in horsedriven hay wagon, the artist’s mother sewing in Nabi style, tennis in Rhode Island, and a deserted table by the sea.
Paintings by Velázquez, Manet, Renoir, Sorolla, and others.
Every bit as radical as Cézanne, his paintings capture the countryside of a long lost era, with its horses and carts.