Jan Stobbaerts, Hay Cart

by Atelier Liesjes

In the twilight of a spacious barn stands a brown horse, with hay before its muzzle, between the wheels of a cart. Its glossy coat and light mane stand out against the dark wood. To the left stands a man-high barrel with a bucket of green fodder on top; on the ground, chickens peck amongst the straw – one white and two brown. On the right, a man in a dark waistcoat and light-coloured shirt sleeves is hoisting a heavy bundle of hay aloft with a pitchfork; above him, high up in the hayloft by a bright square of daylight, a second figure is leaning over the edge. A saddle and leather straps hang from the sturdy post on the right, and on the floor stands a large, dark, gleaming copper cauldron. Outside the door, the light is pale and damp.
The light comes from behind, through the open door and the loft opening, casting the figures almost as silhouettes. This lends the barn something of a cathedral-like quality: high beams, deep shadows and a few bright patches where the dust hangs in the light. Stobbaerts painted with broad, swift brushstrokes and a restrained palette of umber, ochre, grey-green and ivory white. The daily tasks of feeding and haymaking thus become a small scene of labour, warmth and routine, entirely in the tradition of the realistic genre painting.
Jan Stobbaerts (Antwerp 1838 – Schaerbeek 1914) was a Flemish animal and landscape painter, trained at the Antwerp Academy. Stables, barns and mills were his favourite subjects; he painted them with a loose brushstroke and a keen sense of light and texture. In this, he aligns with Belgian realism and the seventeenth-century Flemish tradition of stable interiors. His work is represented in the Royal Museum of Fine Arts, Antwerp. A warm, rural piece suitable for a farm or country house.