Cheval – Carle Vernet

Title

Cheval – Carle Vernet

The illustration shows a Roman horse (stallion) in front of the race. Lithography published (1818–1825) by François Séraphin Delpech (born 1778 – died 1825) after the original drawing by Carle Vernet."

ca. 1820

Artist

Vernet (1758-1836)

Carle Vernet (1758 - 1836) came from a well-known family of artists – his father was the painter Claude Joseph Vernet. He received a classical education at the Académie Royale de Peinture et de Sculpture in Paris and won the Prix de Rome in 1782, which allowed him to study in Italy. He became especially famous for his lively, dynamic depictions of horses, riders, and battle scenes, particularly from the time of the Napoleonic Wars. Carle was a master of capturing the movement and anatomy of horses, earning him a reputation as one of the finest horse painters of his time. In addition to his war paintings, he also created caricatures and hunting scenes, and later worked with lithography. His works often combined realism with a certain elegance, which made them popular among both the military and the aristocracy. Carle Vernet was also the father of the even more famous painter Horace Vernet, who likewise gained great renown as a painter of battles and historical scenes.

Historical Description

Horses belong to the genus of African and Asian donkeys, as well as at least three zebra species. The wild forms of the horse species still live today in eastern and southern Africa and in the central regions of Asia. Only in its native North America did the horse die out around 10,000 years ago, and the mustangs living there today are feral descendants of the horses brought by Spanish conquistadors. Horses prefer open terrain as their habitat. They can be found in savannahs and steppes, but also in drier habitats such as semi-deserts and deserts. One of the horse's strengths is its adaptability. This already helped its early ancestors. The horse migrated to Europe and Asia via the land bridges that existed before the Ice Age and conquered different habitats on five continents. Nowadays, however, the horse often takes on a role as a leisure and sports partner and the term pet seems more appropriate. Horses are large and strong and can therefore be used as excellent working and riding animals.