Jan Siberechts, The Bet

by Atelier Liesjes

A grey horse comes running straight towards the viewer from the water, its head with the white blaze lowered, its hooves splashing in the stream. The animal is pulling a wooden cart with tall spokes, alongside which the water flows away in long streaks. Seated on its back is a young woman in a red jacket with white under-sleeves, a white bonnet on her smooth hair and a light-grey apron over her lap; she looks at us calmly and almost defiantly, the reins held loosely in her hand. On the left, a reddish-brown cow with a heavy udder and white legs wades through the water, her head turned towards the bank, and behind her another pale cow emerges. On the right, the bank drops steeply, covered with grass, scrub and a dark fringe of trees.
It is a typical mudflat or foreshore scene: no narrative, but an everyday crossing that takes on an almost portrait-like quality due to the proximity of the horse and the woman’s gaze. Siberechts paints the water with great attention to detail, capturing reflections of hooves, skirts and the sky, and rendering the horse’s coat almost hair by hair. The tone is warm and tranquil, with a palette of ochre-grey, sea-green, rust-brown and ivory white, and a soft evening light filtering through the trees from the right. The whole scene exudes the orderly tranquillity of the Flemish countryside.
Jan Siberechts (Antwerp 1627 – London 1703) was an Antwerp landscape painter who was admitted to the guild as a master in 1648 and later moved to England, where he painted country houses and parks on commission for the nobility. His best-known works are precisely these fords featuring peasant women, cattle and horses, in which the Flemish realist tradition and a refined sense of light come together. A tranquil, masterfully crafted piece for a classical interior.