Jean Louis Van Kuyck, Setting Off for the Fields, 1870

by Atelier Liesjes

Beneath a wide brick archway stands a boy on a sturdy white horse. He is wearing a straw hat, a red shirt and a dark waistcoat, and is holding the reins loosely in his hand. Next to him stands a dark brown horse with a white blaze, its head turned towards the viewer; both animals have thick manes and heavy, feathered legs. On the left, a woman walks with her back to us, carrying a heavy sack of grain on her head; she wears a brown bodice, a white shirt, a striped skirt and an apron. Chickens are pecking on the ground, whilst on the right stands a brown-and-white dog in a playful pose with its head lowered. On the right, the foliage of a tree hangs over the wall. Through the gate, a courtyard can be seen containing a cartwheel, a haystack and a cockerel. The composition centres on the gate: it acts as a dark frame within which the light from the courtyard falls. Outside, on the threshing floor, it is warm and bright; inside, it remains cool and shady. The colour palette is earthy and sunny: brick red, ochre, sage green and the creamy white of the horse. Van Kuyck depicts the farm as a working place where people and animals labour together, without romantic embellishment but also without criticism. The moment – the departure for the fields – lends the scene a sense of anticipation: the day is beginning, work awaits, and the woman carries her load without looking up. Jean Louis Van Kuyck was a nineteenth-century Antwerp painter of rural life. He painted horses, livestock and peasant interiors in a realistic style, with a keen eye for farm buildings, tools and the daily routine of farm life. His work was exhibited at the Belgian salons and has been preserved in Belgian museums. In the top left-hand corner is his signature with the date 1870. A sunny, lively farm scene suitable for a rustic or classical interior.