Three Horses Tended by Men; Stone Pavement (recto); Horses and Figures in a Landscape (verso)

Three Horses Tended by Men; Stone Pavement (recto); Horses and Figures in a Landscape (verso) by Umberto Boccioni, executed in 1910, is a pivotal work capturing the Italian artist during his transition toward the revolutionary principles of Futurism. Classified as a drawing, this preparatory study utilizes pen and brush and black ink on paper, allowing Boccioni to explore form and movement through rapid, energetic line work. The recto composition, depicting three robust horses stationary on a stone pavement and managed by indistinct figures, showcases a traditional subject treated with a distinctly modern urgency in its application of ink. The heavy outlining and varied use of the brush suggest a focus on mass and volume, even as the artist begins to break away from traditional academic representation.

Created just months before Boccioni co-signed the foundational Futurist manifestos, this piece demonstrates his technical mastery before he committed fully to celebrating the machine age and the dynamism of the urban environment. The verso, Horses and Figures in a Landscape, further illustrates this exploratory phase. Here, the artist uses swift, decisive marks to suggest motion, contrasting the more stable arrangement seen on the recto. These fluid, overlapping forms anticipate the spatial investigations Boccioni would pursue in paintings like The City Rises, translating the energy he captured in his drawings of horses and human figures into abstract representations of mechanical speed.

As a double-sided investigation, the work provides invaluable insight into the draughtsmanship that underpinned Boccioni’s later, more abstract Futurist output. The expressive use of black ink accentuates the contrast and speed of the artist's hand. This important drawing, which exists in the public domain, is part of the extensive collection of modern art housed at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.