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Shoeing the Ox
Shoeing the Ox

Shoeing the Ox

Artist (Florence, Italy, 1856 - 1925)
Date1906 - 1910
Mediumoil on canvas
ClassificationsPaintings And Drawings
Dimensions56.4 x 71.5cm
AcquisitionPurchased in 1920 with income from the Macdonald Bequest.
CopyrightOut of copyright - CC0
LocationView by Appointment - Aberdeen Treasure Hub
Object numberABDAG003875
About MeThis painting displays the confident handling of John Singer Sargent's brush. Sargent is famed for his bold and flamboyant society portraits, but was equally adept painting landscapes in watercolour or, as here, an interior with figures and animals. He makes no attempt to sentimentalise the scene - to draw out the viewer's sympathy with the ox or to capture its character. Instead he suggests its power and energy by painting a compact scene. Only half of the ox is visible, so that its head and horns seem enormous when set against the much slighter figures of the blacksmith's boys.

The power of the ox is as a coiled spring - latent but nevertheless clear to see. The light is subdued, capturing outlines and silhouettes, and further emphasises the dramatic qualities of the scene - there is a theatricality to this simple rustic occasion, Sargent's technical mastery as clearly on view here as in any of his more famous portraits.