Horse, peasant, man and two dogs.

Dirk Stoop (c. 1615–1686) was a widely travelled painter and engraver of the Dutch Golden Age. Allternative versions of his name include Dirck Stoff, Theodorus (van der) Stoop, Thierry (the French version) and Rod(e)rigo, by which he was known in Portugal. Stoop was born in Utrecht. His father was the glass painter Willem Jansz. van Stoop and his brother Maerten was also a painter, especially of war scenes. The 18th century Dutch art historian Arnold Houbraken, considered the elder Stoop to be a good horse painter. The younger Stoop was a pupil in the Utrecht guild and was known for Italianate landscapes with hunting parties, views of ports, cavalry scenes, history paintings, still lifes and altarpieces, which were valued highly in his time.

Some time in 1639 Stoop went to live in Italy and afterwards seems to have led an itinerant existence. While in Lisbon, he became Court painter to the Princess Catherine of Braganza, whom he followed to London when she was betrothed to Charles II in 1662. From this time dates the series of eight large plates portraying her progress from Portsmouth to Hampton Court^. He is also known to have executed 24 engravings for the second, luxury edition of John Ogilby’s Aesop’s Fables in 1665, signing them as R(ordrig)o Stoop.

Currently Te Papa has three etchings by Stoop in its collection. This etching, like the other two, comes from a series of twelve showing horses. Here Stoop depicts a rural scene which is probably hunt related. On the left, a man holds a walking stick in one hand and the reins of his horse in the other. Beside him is a large, shaggy dog who looks on faithfully. The horse is shown in profile facing left. A mounted horseman approaches on the right, with a second figure and another dog on the lower right; they are only partially visible. The setting is in slightly rolling countryside.

See:

Wikipedia, 'Dirck Stoop', https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dirk_Stoop

Dr Mark Stocker   Curator, Historical International Art   March 2019