The theme for WSECS 2018, to be held Feb. 16 & 17, 2018 in Las Vegas, is Conversing among the Ruins: the Persistence of the Baroque.
In modern parlance, baroque breeds are those that are heavier than the typical warmblood, but without being draft-like. The Iberian breeds and the Friesian are easily recognized as “baroque,” despite the former predating that period and the later being comparatively young in its current form. The Knabstrupper has a “baroque” registration category, despite having a well documented 1812 foundation date. Tack and riding styles likewise have forms described as “baroque,” despite often being only tangentially related to that time period.
I am looking for additional presenters for a panel on Baroque Horses and Horsemanship; either the baroque period itself, being the seventeenth and early eighteen centuries, or the remembrance of it in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. This period encompasses many notable equestrian works, including Newcastle (1658), with his fondness for Iberian horses, through Baucher (1842).
E-mail proposals to KatrinBoniface@gmail.com by Sept. 29. EDIT: the WSECS deadline has been re-extended. E-mail proposals to KatrinBoniface@gmail.com by Nov. 10
In a recent post I included a photo of a spotted horse that was painted in the 18th Century and is on a wall at Wilton House near Salisbury England. Here is a link https://horseaddict.net/2017/09/18/decorative-horses-in-iconic-abodes/
and the photo is the second last in the post. Do you think this is a Knabstrupper if the foundation date for this breed is 1812?
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I read your post the other day, and was thinking about the painting. It isn’t a Knab, but to say it is “Knab like” is more than reasonable, and not just because of the physical resemblance. Unlike many breeds, the Knabs foundation and the beginning of record keeping coincide (unlike, say, the Morgan, where Figure was born in ~1789, but Battell’s Register wasn’t until 1894). However, they were, even then, a “nostalgic” breed; they were meant to recreate spotted horses bred in Denmark previously, that had been “lost.” The painting is, I’m fairly sure, a Baron Reis von Eisenberg. It’s been labelled as an “appaloosa,” which is clearly a modern addition, and from “Lipizza,” which of course may also be information added much later and may or may not have basis in fact (I believe the Wilton House Collection is mostly numbered rather than titled). There were some apps among the early Lippizzans, and like the Danish tiger horses the Knab was meant to recall, they came from Spain. Regardless, it was the type of horse in that painting that the Knab was created to remember.
Depending on how far you (or anyone else stumbling across this) want to go down this rabbit hole, I recommend Pia Cueno’s work for representations of the horse in early modern art; Dániel Margócsy gave a talk this past weekend on horses, and horse art, as collected items, which hopefully he will expand and publish; and for the Hapsburg connection, Kathryn Renton’s forthcoming dissertation. There is also a book on the Wilton House Collection itself, but its mostly just prints of the paintings (which are, of course, lovely).
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Well, thank you so much for this very interesting and detailed comment. I will look for Pia Cueno’s work. I had to be quick to take the photo as we were not supposed to take photos in the house and I would have loved to have had more time in that study to have taken a closer look at the other wall of horse paintings which were devoted to the haute ecole movements. Thanks so much for your contribution . I have a friend in England who breeds Knabs and I will pass this on to him as he may be interested.
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Always glad to chat! In my experience, research (like training!) benefits from discussion & seeing how other folks look at problems. For the paintings, there’s a used copy of the Wilton House Collection book on Amazon right now (https://www.amazon.com/classical-riding-school-Wilton-collection/dp/0670225096/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1506049894&sr=8-2&keywords=wilton+house+collection); most of the prints are available online, but I haven’t been able to find a full set with original attribution anywhere digital.
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Thank you!
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Reblogged this on Equine History Collective.
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