Equestrian art, a science of the senses and movement.

Lines, movements and interactions

Horses and drawing have been linked for thousands of years. It was in prehistoric times, with the earliest representations, that we first came across the horse, whose picture was drawn on rock surfaces. The Foz Côa site in northern Portugal is home to some of the finest examples.
Engraved, drawn, painted and sculpted, the horse that has accompanied most human cultures has subsequently been as indispensable materially as it has been erected as a sacred and symbolic being. The history of art offers us countless works featuring the horse.

With the history of horse riding, another link between drawing and the horse appears, that of the understanding and rational construction of movement. Since the 16th century, treatises on the teaching of horsemanship have been accompanied by illustrations. Not only did these add aesthetic value to printed works, but above all they served to complement the explanatory text by providing visual elements that were essential to understanding the complex movements performed on the horse’s back.
In the 20th century, the Portuguese master Nuno Oliveira told his pupils :

« The horse is a compass. He has to draw the figures [geometrics]. The riding arena is a sheet of drawing paper. »

Riding a horse and drawing are two ways of thinking about movement and space.