A Riding School in the Open Air

A Riding School in the Open AirCalraet seems to have trained as a painter with Aelbert Cuyp. Like his master, he slipped into obscurity after his death, only to re emerge as the result of a misconception, when Cuyp was rediscovered in the 18th century. Calraet signed his paintings with the same initials as his master A. C. His works were therefore universally assumed to be by Cuyp. Dulwich owns five Calraets all, until 1953, attributed to the older master. This work has an intimacy

The artist was the son of the history painter Herman Saftleven the elder

The original is in the Niedersächsische Landesgalerie

sa vie et ses oeuvres'

cloth and ceiling lantern

and of his family

Andries (born c

An ancient temple provides the architectural backdrop against which the action is staged

a more courtly and decorative style emerged

The relative untidiness of the scene might suggest a certain moral disapproval - the footwarmer is worn through

The inscription shows the remains of a false Cuyp signature (possibly added by Bourgeois) and the painting was exhibited in the early 19th-century as by Cuyp

possibly by Jacob van Strij (1756-1815)

around 1870