On horseback: the painting exhibition at the Musée national de la Renaissance - Château d'Ecouen

Are you fascinated by the Olympic equestrian events? Do you love the world of horses and riding? Then this is the exhibition for you! The Musée national de la Renaissance, housed in the Château d'Ecouen, invites you to discover the exhibition À cheval: Le portrait équestre dans la France de la Renaissance from October 16, 2024 to January 27, 2025.

This painting exhibition brings together over 160 exceptional works featuring horses and their riders in symbol-filled tableaux.

The Musée National de la Renaissance presents various themes and important aspects of equestrian portraiture during the Renaissance, and demonstrates the specificities of this art form in comparison with other periods. In the Middle Ages, horses were most often portrayed on the battlefield or during tournaments: times when knights could show their worth. During the Renaissance, nobles and court figures - men and women alike - appropriated the horse as a symbol of their power. Horses were also increasingly added to family seals.

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At the crossroads of the models of Antiquity and the artistic modernity of the time, the horse took on a new dimension. Its image as a strong, fiery animal was replaced by a more noble, distinguished and majestic representation. The horse became an object of luxury, shown more in parades than on the battlefield.

Of course, the rider remains the most important element in the painting: from François I to Charles X, via Henri IV, every king and nobleman had to have his own equestrian portrait. These portraits are staged and posed, and are subject to the fashions of different families and successions.

The art of equestrian portraiture was very popular during the Renaissance in France, in a variety of media: prints, drawings, writings and statues. Unfortunately, these statues have now largely disappeared. We do know, however, from the testimonies of other artists, that they were erected at the entrances to towns and castles, in festive settings, on tombs...

A true Renaissance phenomenon, this equestrian portrait continues to fascinate art lovers. Come and discover all its subtleties at the Musée national de la Renaissance!