Two horses, sketch

'Two Horses, Sketch' by Włodzimierz Tetmajer, painted on oak panel and undated, reflects the centrality of horses to peasant and rural life in the Kraków region that was the artist's primary subject. Horses were the working animals of Polish agriculture — pulling ploughs, carts, and loads — and they appeared frequently in the background of Tetmajer's harvest and rural scenes. A dedicated horse study, however, places the animal at centre stage and connects to the long European tradition of equine painting from Géricault through Rosa Bonheur and into the late nineteenth century. The oak panel support suggests a smaller, portable format suited to working outdoors or in a stable — the kind of rapid observation sketch that informed more finished compositions. Tetmajer's horses are working animals rather than aristocratic thoroughbreds, which aligns with his consistent identification with peasant subjects rather than elite culture. The National Museum in Warsaw holds this sketch as evidence of the observational discipline underlying his more elaborate figure compositions.

Working on oak panel, Tetmajer could achieve a smooth, stable ground suited to close observation of the horses' forms. Sketch-quality work on panel shows the artist's thinking process: rapid tonal blocking, confident contour drawing in paint, and the kind of shorthand notation that preserves movement and proportion without laboured finish.