Willem Johan Boogaard is a well-known equestrian painter. Born in Haarlem in 1842, he was still very young when he apprenticed to Pieter Frederik van Os, member of a large family of painters. Like his teacher, Willem Johan specialised in painting horses, especially draught horses resting in the stables after a hard day's labour. He is also known to have painted genre scenes with animals, a handful of landscapes and still lifes. The Teylers Museum in Haarlem has work by his hand.