Features & The Arts

Three-day sale comprises more than 750 lots ranging in value from £30 to £100,000, and several equestrian pieces.

Several equestrian works are among the collection of Indian painting specialist Toby Falk to be sold at Christie’s in London next month.

Cave artists worked in similar ways to modern artists, taking inspiration from a basic form or shape, like a crack in a material or a smudge of paint on a canvas.

The cave art in Spain is estimated to be at least 24,000 years old.

William Simmonds’ “The Black Mare” depicts a stylised horse turning to nip a fly on its near-side fetlock.

One of the earliest illustrated books featuring horsemanship offers a lavish collection of hand-coloured plates from the late 16th century.

Horses in the Viking Age were seen as liminal creatures, meaning they were capable of crossing physical and conceptual boundaries, travelling over different terrains, and even between worlds. They also held cosmological significance.

Researchers who studied the portrayal of horses by ancient Egyptians and Romans suggest modern scholars need to look beyond concepts of realism.

An isolated case cannot support a firm conclusion, say researchers, but the findings are nevertheless intriguing.