Landschap met dood paard c. 1590 - 1637

Curator: Let’s spend a moment contemplating this drawing entitled “Landschap met dood paard,” or "Landscape with a Dead Horse," attributed to Egbert van Panderen, and dating from approximately 1590 to 1637. It's an etching housed right here in the Rijksmuseum. Editor: Gosh, what a downer of a scene, right? I mean, the detail in that prone horse...it’s so…still. The other one looming over just amplifies the feeling of, like, profound loss or something. All those detailed muscles! Curator: Indeed. Van Panderen produced this evocative drawing at a historical juncture marked by significant shifts in how humans viewed animals, especially horses. Within the context of the Baroque period, we can explore this work as possibly critiquing aristocratic notions of dominion or even speaking to the ecological impact of warfare of that period, if we contextualize the horse's death against landscape art being linked to broader geopolitical changes in sixteenth- and seventeenth-century Europe. Editor: Warfare and eco-disasters aside, the composition's really doing it for me. That stark contrast between the fallen and the standing horse? So powerful. There’s almost something tender, if grim, about the way the second horse lowers its head, though…like it can’t quite understand what’s happened, perhaps. Almost makes me want to reach out to that horse and tell it, hey, I'm here for you buddy. Curator: And the inclusion of Latin phrases inscribed within the print encourages us to see this image, at the very least, in relation to its contemporary moment, in its intersection between intellectual curiosity and grief. By focusing on an animal in distress, Van Panderen might also have subtly intervened within anthropocentric paradigms—challenging traditional power dynamics that underpin the human relationship to non-human animals in early modern Europe. Editor: You know, considering all the highfalutin intellectual context, this little landscape has real emotional punch too. A testament to friendships ended abruptly. I mean I never thought I would spend part of my afternoon contemplating a dead horse but it is kind of awesome and touching, despite everything. Curator: And for me, the drawing reminds us of the entangled histories that art illuminates—personal tragedy intertwined with larger societal shifts.