A Peasant Leading his Horse on the Outskirts of a Wood

At the edge of a forest, a man is leading his horse towards a waterfront. With his head turned and left arm outstretched, the man at the same time seems to be commanding his dog. These figures are nearly dwarfed by the two majestic, age-old trees rising to their side. The viewer’s gaze then continues to the wide open landscape, unfolding in the left background, where some lilac clouds are coloring the blue sky. In the far distance, Barbiers depicted high hills that are completely alien to the Dutch countryside.

Pieter Barbiers was a member of a family of artists, working in Amsterdam. He started off as a painter of wall hangings - large ensembles of arcadian landscapes, used to decorate a drawing room. When around 1800 the interest in this art form started to wane, Barbiers directed his focus to making drawings, paintings and prints of landscapes. These rustic scenes, and specifically painterly sheets like the one shown here, were in high demand among contemporary collectors.

It is unlikely that this landscape was based on direct observation, but rather came together in the artist’s studio. Barbiers would likely have used some sketches and figure studies which he assembled to make this highly finished sheet. After drawing a preliminary sketch in black chalk, the artist carefully applied various layers of gouache. The complexity of their layering is apparent for example in the bark of the tree to the right, which is constructed out of numerous dashes of gray, brown and blueish-green to articulate its various textures. The finishing touches were some additions of white that make this tree and its undergrowth stand out in the foreground.