Jean Louis Van Kuyck, Interior of a Stable, 1865

by Atelier Liesjes

In the semi-darkness of a stable, two horses stand one behind the other: on the left, a grey-and-white horse with a luminous flank and a dark mane; on the right, a bay horse standing with its head lowered near the feed. The light comes from the right, where an open door offers a view of a sunny courtyard; there, a barefoot woman in a white shirt and a dark skirt is carrying an armful of straw out, her face turned away. By the door stands a young farmhand in a reddish-brown jacket and light-coloured trousers, leaning on a pitchfork; he is looking at the woman. In the barn, chickens are pecking at the straw; two pigeons are perched on the beams, and a birdcage hangs on the right. In the foreground on the right stands a wooden press or chest. The roof beams are barely visible in the darkness. Van Kuyck builds up the scene through light and darkness: the doorway is a bright rectangular plane, whilst the rest of the stable dissolves into brown and black. The paint is applied with a fluid yet firm hand, with long strokes on the horse’s coat and short, light touches on the straw. The palette is earthy: umber, burnt umber, ochre yellow, moss green and the ivory white of the horse on the left. The scene has no narrative, only the slow routine of feeding and spreading straw. Therein lies its power: the painter shows that the daily work on a farm has its own dignity, even when nothing is happening. Jean Louis Van Kuyck was a nineteenth-century Antwerp painter who specialised in stables, livestock and farm interiors. He worked in the tradition of the Flemish realists, who sought to depict rural life without embellishment, and exhibited at the Belgian salons. His horses and cows are painted with great expertise, right down to the hair on their legs and the position of their ears. His signature, dated 1865, appears in the bottom left-hand corner.