Joaquin Sorolla - horses, oxen and donkey

 Salvete Omnes,

today let us visit the gallery of Joaquin Sorolla, brilliant Spanish (of Valencia) painter and maestro of brush work.

perhaps his most famous, and huge, horse painting is El bano del caballo (Horse bath), aslo known as El caballo blanco (White Horse*) - 

.   and his fabulous paintings showing Spanish provinces and folk costumes and customs

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La Fiesta del pan en Castilla - right panel 

La fiest del pan en Castilla - left panel

Extremadura - the land from which conquistadors came from in the  XVI century

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Tipos de Avila

*the horse in the painting is not white, it is clearly grey.

Valete

Columbus Day or the Day of the Return of the Horse to America

 Salvete omnes,

today, as usually every Monday around Oct 12 we celebrate the Columbus Day or discovery of  the Americas by the Old world representatives in likes of the Spanish Admiral Cristobal Colon and his Spanish Crown fleet. 
 It was the true beginning of the so called Columbian Exchange between the Americas and the Old World. (my postings from the past on this subject - one & two)

infographics from this page as fair use only

For the Hispanic or Latino populations of the Americas this is El Dia de la Raza, and for the indigenous Americans, from Aleutian Islands to Tierra del Fuego, this important anniversary is The Day of Sorrows and Resistance. 

So perhaps horse could bridge the vast and growing gap between the past and presence, namely, as paleohorses  went extinct on the American continent but survived in Eurasia and there were domesticated by our ancestors the Proto-Indoeuropeans some 6,000 years ago, and  as Equus F. Caballus were returned by the Spanish and Portuguese explorers. 
In fact, the first horses (of the primitive Andalusian stock and perhaps offsprings of the imported hacas and local mares)  were carried on board of the Admiral's fleet and were landed  in the Caribbean horse paradise-to-be  on Colon's (2nd) second voyage (along with circa 1,500 men and wome & kids from the Spanish realms), thus the date of the arrival is actually 1493 AD, but we could celebrate the date of October 12 as the Day of Horse of Americas.

So happy Return of the Horse day or whatever you wish to celebrate, just celebrate history and learn from it. 

ps

obviously we don't know whether the Chinese, Mongols, Koreans, or later Muscovites sailed their ships to the western shores of Americas  before Columbus. The Islandic Norse sailed from Greenland to eastern shores of during the so called Vinland sagas period, but whether they left there any horse it is unknown. Also it is unknown whether the the traders and fishermen from southern France and northern Spain, who sailed to the bays and inlets of the eastern New England and Canada in the XV century prior to 1492AD,  brought with them any horses. But it is highly unlikely -  but absence of evidence is not evidence of absence (Carl Sagan). 
Valete

Camels from Tang Dynasty p.4

 Salvete Omnes,

from Guimet Museum,  Paris, France:

Tang camels and some Sogdians or northern attendants 

. this one is late Sui Dynasty or early Tang

from British Museum  in London, UK - tomb of Liu Tingxun

enjoy

Valete

Camels from Tang Dynasty p.3

 Salvete Omnes,

continuing the camels in Tang China

from the Ostasiastiska Museum in Stockholm, Sweden,  come these wonderful sculptures: 

. figure of foreigner or Sogdian from Central Asia

ladies and musicians

enjoy

Valete

Camels from Tang Dynasty p.2

 Salvete Omnes,

More of the camels, and various figurines of foreigners,  from the Tang China - from the collection of the Cernuschi Museum  of Paris, France .

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and some beautifully dressed courtly ladies who were the recipients of the more exquisite  goods brought to Chang'an, the capital.

enjoy 

Valete