SHOEING BY EDWIN HENRY LANDSEER
In the seventh in my series of horses in art, today I
consider one of my favourites. This glorious oil on canvas hangs in the Tate Britain
in London (England) and measures 56” x 44” (4’8” x 3’8”) or 142cm x 112cm.
 |
Edwin Landseer
“Shoeing”
© Edwin Landseer Estate, Photographic Rights © Tate 2016
Available under Creative Commons Licence CC-BY-NC-ND 3.0 (Unported) |
I love this portrait of ‘Old Betty’, a favourite mare of
Jacob Bell, who was one of Landseer’s patrons. I love the detail, the snapshot
it represents of a country scene enacted 170 years ago which yet could very
easily have been painted yesterday.
Too often, these days, there is an urge to ‘improve’
something which works perfectly just as it is. Fortunately for the age-old
craft of farriery, no method of protecting a horse’s hoof from wear has yet
been discovered that is better than the one used for centuries. Our
understanding of the foot, its structures and the importance to the horse of
hoof balance has increased, and rightly so, but the pincers, rasps, hammers,
knives and anvils employed by farriers up and down the country (and across the
globe) are much as they were in Landseer’s time. The farrier who visits the
modern stable yard will wear a leather apron and strong work boots, just as the
one in the portrait. Being stomped on by a horse is an occupational hazard and
often very painful, so minimizing the risk is common sense. Although glue is
now used in some instances, it cannot maintain the bond with the hoof as long
or as efficiently in a working horse. A shoe is generally, therefore, still nailed
on in the traditional way, with the farrier bent over and holding the horse’s
foot between his legs. You can see why farriers are plagued by bad backs!
The one major difference between today and when this
portrait was painted is the forge. Rarely nowadays do farriers have their own
forge. The times when every village had its own smithy, with a blacksmith able
to turn his hand to a variety of different commissions, from shoeing a horse to
mending a ploughshare, are long gone. The modern farrier has a portable forge
in his van and travels to his clients. He mostly uses shoes made by
machine, which he shapes and adjusts to fit on a small anvil a quarter of the
size of the one depicted. It would be a sweeping statement to suggest that the
travelling farrier will have with him his badly behaved dog that his clients
reprimand at their peril, but many do! The bloodhound portrayed in the painting
is a study of polite concentration as she chews a piece of hoof and waits for
the next bit.
Perhaps the donkey is wondering if Laura the bloodhound
is crunching on a carrot as he gazes benignly down at her, his stirrup dangling
from a saddle which appears enormous. The Tate’s caption on this painting
informs us that incorporating a donkey was ‘a device popular with many other
animal painters’, since the shaggy hide of the donkey provided a contrast to
the glossy coat of the horse. The composition is balanced and charming, with
the hunched figure of the farrier in perfect sympathy with those of the donkey
and dog. It was painted some years after it was first commissioned, since Jacob
Bell’s intention had been to paint Old Betty with her foal, but by the time it
was actually produced, her two foals had both outstripped her in height.
Fellow horse owners might look at Old Betty, curving her head round as if to supervise the proceedings, her eye wide and kind and her ear back – not in ill-humour but to listen – and proclaim the omission of some form of tether. Jacob Bell wrote of the painting that the mare, ‘would stand to be shod or cleaned without being fastened, but had a great objection to being tied up in a forge or against a post or door’. On such occasions this was attempted, she was prone to jerking backwards and breaking her bridle. This is why, nowadays, we tie horses to a piece of string which will break first!
So the mare stands quietly, her gleaming coat drawing the
eye to her placid stance and demeanour, while her animal companions, the
blackbird in its cage, the litter of hoof parings on the floor, the sultry waft
of smoke from the hot shoe being applied to the foot and the whole ambience of
the painting give the viewer a sense of peace and serenity on a sleepy
afternoon.
Do not make the mistake of thinking the farrier is the
central figure in the composition, for that, most certainly, is Old Betty
herself. It is written that Landseer had borrowed and ridden the mare on
occasion and his affection shines in this portrait for all to see.
No comments:
Post a Comment