Zygmunt Vogel, Old Poland, Jewish and peasants' horse

 Salvete Omnes,

Warsaw's panorama as seen from the Praga Vistula bank

 

 Zygmunt Vogel (1764-1826AD) was a Polish artist of German descent, both parents emigrated to Polish Kingdom during the mid-XVIII century, who was active both in the XVIII and XIX centuries. 

Krakowskie Przedmiescie Street

 In these watercolors we see the town of Kock - two different views ( from the collections at the National Arts Museum in Warsaw).

Do note the wagons and men and boys riding pareback.

In this view, there is a Jewish family abroad a wagon returning to the town, with some traveler  way ahead, another cart pulled by horses and perhaps farmers and beggars at the fire.

there are some red, Old Polish cows in this landscape

in this watercolor the town of Ostrog, during the Ruthenian, Duchy of Lithuanian and  Old Poland the town & castle was the seat of the Ostrogski clan. 

 Krasinski Palace in Warsaw - the south side - as it appeared in the 1790s

A detail of town dwellers and one horseman, from a print showing the old town of Tarnow - 

Note that the people in those watercolors and prints are dressed in the Old Polish costumes and national attire etc. Back then we had our own popular culture, one cannot say about the present days in Poland... but even then our poets satirized the wealthy and rich propensity to follow Paris and London fashions (like the riding attire from England was all the rage well int the XIX century early years).
and some Old Poland cattle in this view of the Ujazdow castle.

I will have more Vogle's artwork in the future, the pieces from the Duchyof Warsaw period. as they are very interesting per the army and ulan cavalry etc.

Valete

Tomasz Makowski & Horses in Hippika

 Salvete Omnes,

 

long time ago I posted some images by a Polish artist Tomasz Makowski (circa 1575-1650AD).

I would like to return to that edition of Krzysztof Dorohostajski' Hippika, for this blog I corralled horses from that edition of Dorohostajski book.

I wonder if this is a Polish horse,as the city in the background is most likely Krakow, with the Wawel Royal castle on the left

the horses do resemble other horses in the European prints of this period, like those by Antonio Tempesta..

enjoy

Valete

Maciejowski Bible & medieval aquamanile circa 1250 from the MET

 Salvete Omnes,

 

a little excursion to the field of beautiful art and horses in that field, this being the Medieval art naturally.  

I love looking at the illuminations that complement the text of the Maciejowski Bible. Morgan Library's Maciejowski Bible ( created in the French realm for their saintly crusader king Louis IX, ended up in our Polish Kingdom and was a gift sent by our archbishop Bernard Maciejowski - Ciolek coat of arms - to shah Abbas I  of the Safavid Persia)  is just full of amazingly detailed imagery of that XIII century war horse horse & tack, weaponry and costumes notwithstanding.
so some examples for your viewing pleasures - violent as it may be.

 

there are saddles shown in several illuminations, including a driving saddle and tack:

Now, the aquamanile is another beautiful manifestation of the Medieval art and life. Below one of the most splendid examples of this water vessel made within the Holy Roman  Empire during the XIII century.

 

The MET has this article devoted to the subject of metal aquamanile in general, and their own collections of those artifacts.
While this Medieval scholar presents this article on the hand washing vessel that was the most sumptuous tool to the proper table manners, be it at the castle and rich burghers' houses.

Now, I ran across this article - on  a medieval helmet  from Lucera, Italy. There is some great iconography at the end of this article, showing knights and often their horses.

and last but not least, the unusual aquamanile from the XIII century Azerbaijan to be found among the Hermitage collections, the vessel going back to the traditional Iranian-Persian ancient traditions - its history and provenience.
valete

Kossak - Mohort presenting the herd to prince Poniatowski

 Salvete Omnes,
a short entry - 
Juliusz Kossak's paintings have graced these blog 'pages' for many years.
National Museum in Warsaw has a good size copy of his painting on their digital collections webpage- Mohort prezentujący stadninę [Mohort presenting the herd ...to prince Jozef Poniatowski], painted in 1858AD. Unusually this painting is an oil on canvas work, whereas the typical medium used by Juliusz Kossak was watercolor (with some gouache, ink etc) . 
Here, the main protagonist is  a fictitious 'knightly' soldier-cavalryman, the defender of the Borderlands, the hero of Wincenty Poll's epic poem - Mohort. He rides next to a real hero and the last knight of the Old Poland - prince Jozef Poniatowski.
The three main male characters are portrayed in the late XVIII century Polish cavalry uniforms, while the ladies are perhaps dressed in some riding attire of that period? , I am not versed in the female fashions of the ear. 
The site is somewhere in the Old Poland's southern or eastern lands, that make today's central  Ukraine, our Polish lost mythical Kresy or Borderlands. 

The horses painted on this canvas most likely come from numerous sketches and in situ observations maestro  Juliusz Kossak made while visiting Polish studs and herds in those lands. He was friends with many Polish breeders and land owners of the era, painted many portraits of their horses and herds, while the very old Polish lands had been divided between the Russian Empire and Austro-Hungarian one during the three Partitions of Poland (1772-1795);  and in the past these lands were always Polish Crown centers of horse herds and war horse production. We suspect that the so called Old Polish Horse, used by the winged hussars and National Cavalry & Uhlans came from the Ruthenian and Podolian farms.
Perhaps it is worth noting that the majority of these fine Polish stud farms, breeding Polish Arabians as well, were destroyed during the World War I, Bolshevik Revolution  and the independence wars after the dissipation of both empires 1917-20

Valete