Le Chariot de Foin
after c. 1650
Philips Wouwerman was so obsessed with horses that he sneaked them into nearly all of his 800-plus paintings, and this bustling Dutch Golden Age scene is a perfect example. A comically oversized haystack towers over a group of weary travelers and their trusty steeds as they pause by the water's edge to rest. While the peasants negotiate the muddy bank and load boats in the distance, a massive, cloud-filled sky stretches out above them, proving that in 17th-century Dutch landscapes, the heavens often stole the show.
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