Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1899-07-20
THE HORSE IN ART.

lelullttu 10 bIplt ~ ib' "i"~' ''NNN%'
-
THE HORSE IN ART.
The up-to-da'e horse of art is quite a
different quadruped from the hery
creatures we used to see. In years gone
by his neck was arched his rump well
rounded, and his whole bearing pompous
and melodramatic. Frequently, in the
good old days, he raised one foreleg like
setter dog or reared on both hind legs
after the fashion of a grizzly bear. But
things have changed now. and the pcto-
rial, or marble, steed has altered his
quondam poses for brisker and more
business like attitudes While the modern
metamocphosis may lack the heroic
features which formerly characterized our
good old friend, we believe the artis-
tic horse Of the present day is much
more accurate. They say the change is
due almost entirely 10 the revelations Of
the instantaneous camera. This infalliole
portrait-maker has caught the steed in
action and shown us exactly how he looks
1t has also shown us that when
he runs he doubles up like jacknife and
throws grace to the winds. 1t has like
wise demonstrated the fact that old-time
artists had erroneous ideas as 10 how
the brute handled his feet and used his
legs Indeed. photography has shown us
so many things about moving horses that
strict accuracy in their portraiture is
almost ridiculous.
If we mistake not. Frederick Remington
was the first artist who represented
the horse as he is-"with all his warts"
as Mark Twain would say. a decade or
so ago we first saw Remington's sketches
of the raw-boned western bronchos, and
though we felt that they were very, very
dorsey" we realized that he had a
most unique way of drawing them. And
so he did But his uniqueness was due
10 the fact that he drew them correctly,
while nearly all other artists chung TO the
old-time presidents. BY and by, when
the amateur photographers had taken
snapshots at almost everything else on
earth, they tried their hands on our equine
friends, and Remington's artistic &C.
centricitics were sustained. The horse
flashed on the sensitive plate was very
odd and not altogether graceful. but,
withal, he looked very like the thing he
purpOrted to be. And so nowadays we
see a new school in equestrian drawing
a school Of accuracy and realism. There
is nothing classic or heroic about it, nor
is it altogether dignifed. but somehow it
is pleasing and invigorating.
If you think Remington and his. imita-
tors have done the horse an injustice, ex-
anime the magazine pictures which are
reproduced from photographs. or the
newspaper cuts which are made by the
chalk-plate process. Cameras, like figures,
do not lie-that IS, if they are not re-
touched by the photographer.
The horse drawn by the artists of fifty
years ago was, as we have said, quite a
different animal from that we see on
paper or canvas to-day. SO long as his
delineators kept him in repose they were
generally accurate. but when they made
him prance and cavort they also made
him ridiculous. Sir Edwin Landseer, the
great English animal painter, generally
steered clear of difficulties. His senti-
mental style precluded motion on the
part of his lifelike brutes and generally
clung TO repose. Rosa Bonheur, on the
other hand, was holder, and lid not
finch at undertaking more ambitious
things. Indeed, her greatest work was
"rhe Horse Fair" and In this she has
her steeds cantering along at a lively
gait. We are not prepared to comment
on the accuracy Of these horses, though
we suppose this picture will ever rank
with the masterpieces of all ages. As
we recall the original in New York and
the smaller copy in London. the poses of
the animals in 1.-THE Horse Fair are most
excellpt and approach very nearly to
the Remington style. Certainly the dill
ference is very slight. and to our mind
the horses OF the French woman
could not be surpassed.
1t is hard to predict just what effect
the instantaneous camera will have on
art. While its influences have been par
ticularly noticeable in the pictures of
horses. it has not confined its revelations
TO them. The average man who IS no.
tographed while walking Will be aston
ished TO see how awkward he is. Per-
haps the men who draw had better agree
among themselves to take few liber-
ties with accuracy.
--------------