A large 17th century Old Dutch master oil painting�Cavalry skirmish�Philips Wouwerman was the son of a little known painter in Alkmaar, Paul Joosten Wouwerman. Philips died at the age of 48, has created a dazzling array of landscapes, battle scenes and, above all, the elegant life of his time, its setting, castles, parties, hunting, huntsmen and, most prized of all, horses. He is said to have died poor, which may explain the delight with which he depicted in more than 600 paintings, often set in Italy, that luxury of the period; the fine horse. With these horses, he created bright dreams, cavalcades, encampments, horse fairs, stables, smithies, an entire world. He may not have enjoyed these pleasures in actual fact, but he could do so through his paintings. When he was 19 he abducted a Catholic girl whom he married in Hamburg � a dashing start to an adult life which then became thoroughly tidy and bourgeois. He worked for Everard Decker in Hamburg, then in 1640 moved to Haarlem, where he was accepted into the guild of St Luke. He was a pupil of Wynants, and it was he who put the horses into Wynants� landscapes. Many artists have painted horses, but none with such devotion, none who cared about the social life of the animal, so to speak. He painted as a technician but also as a poet. Harness, saddles, stirrups, every detail is accurate. He was perhaps the last chronicler of a dying civilization. Others painted the degenerate animal of �the turf�, but Wouwerman was the man who depicted the truth of a lost world.Medium: Oil on relined canvas.Size: c. 25 x 33 inches unframed / 31 x 39 framedCondition: Relined c. 1900. Now Cleaned and ready to hang.Museum and Gallery HoldingsAix: The Angel Appearing to the Shepherds; Horses Led to Water (two works)Ajaccio: TravellingAmsterdam: Peasants Defending themselves against Soldiers; Peasants� Victory; Camp (two works); White Horse Kicking Out; Two Landscapes; Deer Hunt...