Willem Constantijn Staringartist • painter • watercolourist • draughtsmanLaren (Gld.) 1847-1916 Zutphen

Willem Constantijn Staring is known for his watercolours and drawings of soldiers and horses, which he depicted in great detail. Staring received drawing lessons during his training at the Royal Military Academy in Arnhem and served as an officer in the army until about 1908. With a great knowledge of uniforms, he drew and watercolours many soldiers and cavalrymen, and high-ranking figures such as Queen Wilhelmina and Napoleon with his officers. Staring looked at the experiments of Eadweard Muybridge, a British photographer, known for his 'Animal Locomotion', a series of photos in which a horse can be seen galloping. This showed that a horse comes completely loose from the ground at a gallop. Staring studied these photos as an example of how to portray a horse as faithfully as possible.