This painting, probably created for a wealthy family in Dordrecht (now in the Netherlands), shows a school for training horses in the system of precise movements known as dressage—an aristocratic refinement of horsemanship first formalized in the 1600s that has been an Olympic sport since 1912. Under the supervision of the mounted riding master at the right, a horse is being taught the levade, in which the animal rises on its hind legs. It has not quite mastered the maneuver, however, since its front legs should be tucked in closer to its body. The horse’s mistake perhaps accounts for the agitation of one of the grooms, who brandishes a riding crop and appears to be shouting. 

The dying light of evening, casting long shadows and a golden haze over the landscape, was a specialty of Aelbert Cuyp and is particularly striking in this painting. Cuyp combines the low horizon and prominent sky of local Dutch landscapes with aspects of Italian-inspired landscapes, such as the shepherd, broken columns, classical sculpture, and mountain.

Aelbert Cuyp (1620–1691), Landscape with Horse Trainers. Oil on canvas, about 1655 or 1660. 46 3/4 x 67 in. (118.7 x 170.2 cm). Purchased with funds from the Libbey Endowment, Gift of Edward Drummond Libbey, 1960.2. On view in Gallery 23.