Horse Standing on a Mound (1655): Art, History and Details

Horse Standing on a Mound (1655) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection. The museum's creator attribution is Cornelis Saftleven (Dutch, 1607–1681).

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

Cornelis Saftleven’s drawing of a horse from the rear is an example of the animal subject matter that was outrageously popular and considered indigenous to the Netherlands in the 17th century. The artist made this drawing for sale, evident by his initials and date at the bottom center of the drawing, and by the drawing’s high degree of finish, combining several different media including yellow watercolor and red chalk. The awkward and nonheroic pose of the horse demonstrates the Dutch taste for everyday scenes and naturalism.

Object facts

• Title: Horse Standing on a Mound
• Date: 1655
• Creator attribution: Cornelis Saftleven (Dutch, 1607–1681)
• Culture: Netherlands
• Type: Drawing
• Technique: brush and black, brown, yellow, and gray watercolors over graphite and red chalk on antique laid paper
• Dimensions: Matted: 19.8 x 26.8 x 0.3 cm (7 13/16 x 10 9/16 x 1/8 in.); Image: 14.1 x 17 cm (5 9/16 x 6 11/16 in.)
• Collection: DR - Dutch
• Department: Drawings
• Accession number: 2019.12

A detail from the museum

This Dutch artist specialized in making natural portraits of horses, dogs, and even cows!

Collection credit

John L. Severance Fund

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.