Philips Wouwerman

Philips Wouwerman painted horses better than almost anyone in the Dutch Golden Age, and he painted them constantly, in cavalry skirmishes, hunts, army camps and travelers pausing at an inn. Look across his crowded scenes and you can usually find a single pale gray or white horse near the center, a habit so consistent that it became his unofficial signature.

He worked in Haarlem, produced somewhere north of 600 pictures in a busy career, and sold well to collectors who wanted lively outdoor action over solemn portraits. Later generations kept prizing him, and French and German royal collections bought his work heavily in the 18th century. Wouwerman died in Haarlem in 1668, prosperous enough that the story went he burned his drawings on his deathbed so a rival could not learn his methods.