Lot 1549 Dα

"With remains of several red varnish seals and an old inscription on the back of the panel reading “no 110”.
The three horses are depicted in a large stable building, with the Haarlem based painter Philips Wouwerman's characteristic white horse in the centre. The tall gateway on the left side of the image reveals a view of a clouded sky, a small section of landscape and the figure of a man leading a donkey into the stable. This calm and carefully observed scene is still housed in the typical fine frame used in the Dresden Gemäldegalerie in which the work was kept until 1924. In July of that year it was passed on to the Family Association of the Albertine Line of the House of Wettin e.V. in the “Auseinandersetzungsvertrag” (dispute contract) agreed upon with the Saxon state parliament. The fact that the painting is no longer listed in the 1928 catalogue of paintings belonging to the house of Wettin indicates that it was sold before that time. We would like to thank Bettina Forger from the Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister in Dresden for the information she has kindly provided on this matter.
Dr. Birgit Schumacher, whom we would like to thank for her support in cataloguing this lot, tentatively included this painting in her catalogue raisonné of works formerly belonging to the Dresden Gallery published in 2006. Now, upon examination of the work in person, she has confirmed the attribution to Philips Wouwerman."