Watering Horses

Thomas Rowlandson (1756-1827) was England's greatest caricaturist and one of its most gifted draftsmen. Watering Horses depicts the daily ritual of taking horses to a stream or trough, a subject that allows Rowlandson to combine his love of animal drawing with his talent for social observation. The horses are rendered with the anatomical understanding that distinguishes Rowlandson's animal drawing from the more generic animal art of his contemporaries, while the human figures who lead and water them display the characteristic energy and humor that make his work instantly recognizable.

Rowlandson's animal drawings are less well known than his satirical prints, but they demonstrate the same quick perception and assured line that characterize his best work. His ability to capture a horse's movement, personality, and physical presence in a few rapid pen strokes is unmatched in English art, and it reflects a deep knowledge of horses acquired through a lifetime of riding, racing, and observing. Watering Horses is both a study of animal behavior and a social document.

Watering Horses is Rowlandson the horseman as much as Rowlandson the caricaturist. The horses are drawn with the quick, accurate eye of a man who knows them from the saddle, and the human figures are drawn with the humor of a man who knows that even watering horses can be a social occasion.