This charming late 17th-century oil painting by Dutch painter Barent Gael (c. 1630-1698) depicts travellers and villagers gathered at a 'pleisterplaats', or rural 'stopping place', where horses are being fed and attended to beside a rambling old building.
At the centre stands a white horse with its rider or attendant standing alongside. A second figure crouches beneath the animal, apparently working around one of its feet. Nearby, a brown horse buries its head in a raised trough piled with fresh green fodder while a man tends to it. A second feeding station stands on the opposite side of the white horse. Farther into the shadows, numerous travellers, villagers and animals congregate beside the road.
A 'pleisterplaats' or 'uitspanning' was an important feature of 17th-century travel. Such roadside stopping places allowed travellers to pause while their horses were rested, fed, watered and cared for. Food, drink and accommodation might also be available. In modern terms, they performed something of the practical function of a roadside service station.
It's particularly interesting that Gael has placed relatively little emphasis upon drinking or merrymaking here. Instead, almost everything revolves around work, horses and everyday exchange. If you look closely, you might notice a small group engaged in trade; one man holds a tiny silvery object aloft, maybe a fish. A dog wanders across the yard.
The architecture is also alive with incidental detail. Ivy and weeds push through crumbling masonry, irregular leaded windows punctuate the wall, timber and thatch have been repeatedly repaired, and a damaged earthenware vessel has been abandoned upon a ledge.
This was precisely the type of subject for which Gael became known. His early biographer Arnold Houbraken associated him with pleisterplaatsen, and the influence of his reported teacher Philips Wouwerman is particularly evident in the prominent use of horses and travellers.
The painting has an interesting provenance trail including Campbell Drummond Riddell Esq. (1796-1858) and Christie's, Amsterdam, where it reached £8,741.
Signed in the lower right and held in a splendid later gilt frame.
Learn more about Barent Gael in our directory.
Medium: Oil on canvas
Overall size: 28½” x 31” / 73cm x 79cm
Year of creation: c. 1675
Labels & Inscriptions: An inscribed label on the reverse refers to one of the previous owners - Campbell Drummond Riddell Esq. (1796-1858), a 19th-century Scottish-born administrator who was the inaugural Colonial Treasurer of New South Wales.
Provenance: With Campbell Drummond Riddell Esq. (1796-1858) / Old Master Pictures, Christie's, Amsterdam, Netherlands, 28 Nov 1989, Lot 233 / Private collection, Belgium.
Condition: Cleaned. Revarnished. Canvas relined.
Fine craquelure throughout. The paint layer is stable. Frame in good condition with minor age-related wear.
Artist’s auction maximum: £27,000 achieved in 2000 for ‘Travellers at a Blacksmith's’.
Our reference: BRV2361
