Dame Elisabeth Frink

Horse, 1967, Lithograph on paper, 778 × 594 mm, Tate, London; Presented by Curwen Studio through the Institute of Contemporary Prints 1975, P06155, ©️ 2024 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / DACS, London. Photo: Tate, London / Art Resource

He Paws in the Valley and Exults in his Strength

Commentary by Hilary Davies

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Verse 18 of this passage from Job continues the overall theme of this chapter, the vanity of human knowledge, by pointing out the surprising fact that the swift-footed, but daft, ostrich, can outrun horse and rider: ‘When she rouses herself to flee/ she laughs at the horse and his rider’ (39:18). These lines introduce a poetic disquisition on the mighty and admirable qualities of a warhorse. The choice of this animal differs from all the others in this chapter, insofar as here the focus is on a clearly domesticated type, albeit an imposing one, demanding respect. This reflects the fact that wild horses were not native to the Near East: when the human populations there first encountered the horse, it was through trade and domestic use.

The fighting horse described by the author of Job shares, however, many characteristics with the fearsome animals of the wild. He is unafraid in the face of the fabricated weapons of humans, ‘he goes out to meet the weapons. /He laughs at fear, and is not dismayed; /he does not turn back from the sword’ (v.22). Indeed, he has supernatural powers; like the eternally charging aurochs of Lascaux (elsewhere in this exhibition), he is unkillable, ‘Upon him rattle the quiver,/ the flashing spear and the javelin’ (v.23). Humans are the enemy, sounds and smells from far off, from an inferior, alien world, there to be defeated, ‘When the trumpet sounds, he says ‘Aha!’/He smells the battle from afar, /the thunder of the captains, and the shouting’ (v.25). It is significant that, unlike in real life, nowhere does he appear controlled by his rider, who remains shadowy, merely a name.

So it is in Elisabeth Frink’s lithograph, Horse from 1967. This image is dominated by the disproportionately large head of the horse, the seat of its intelligence, fearlessness, and power. It has no saddle, bit, or reins; its head and neck are raised, taut, signifying both aggression and apprehension, as do its flattened ears. Yet its eye is wide open, bold, alert, fixing the spectator who, we must understand by virtue of the horse’s body language, is clearly the foe. We are the ones who are going to be trampled here.

See full exhibition for Job 39

Job 39

Revised Standard Version

39“Do you know when the mountain goats bring forth?

Do you observe the calving of the hinds?

2Can you number the months that they fulfil,

and do you know the time when they bring forth,

3when they crouch, bring forth their offspring,

and are delivered of their young?

4Their young ones become strong, they grow up in the open;

they go forth, and do not return to them.

5“Who has let the wild ass go free?

Who has loosed the bonds of the swift ass,

6to whom I have given the steppe for his home,

and the salt land for his dwelling place?

7He scorns the tumult of the city;

he hears not the shouts of the driver.

8He ranges the mountains as his pasture,

and he searches after every green thing.

9“Is the wild ox willing to serve you?

Will he spend the night at your crib?

10Can you bind him in the furrow with ropes,

or will he harrow the valleys after you?

11Will you depend on him because his strength is great,

and will you leave to him your labor?

12Do you have faith in him that he will return,

and bring your grain to your threshing floor?

13“The wings of the ostrich wave proudly;

but are they the pinions and plumage of love?

14For she leaves her eggs to the earth,

and lets them be warmed on the ground,

15forgetting that a foot may crush them,

and that the wild beast may trample them.

16She deals cruelly with her young, as if they were not hers;

though her labor be in vain, yet she has no fear;

17because God has made her forget wisdom,

and given her no share in understanding.

18When she rouses herself to flee,

she laughs at the horse and his rider.

19“Do you give the horse his might?

Do you clothe his neck with strength?

20Do you make him leap like the locust?

His majestic snorting is terrible.

21He paws in the valley, and exults in his strength;

he goes out to meet the weapons.

22He laughs at fear, and is not dismayed;

he does not turn back from the sword.

23Upon him rattle the quiver,

the flashing spear and the javelin.

24With fierceness and rage he swallows the ground;

he cannot stand still at the sound of the trumpet.

25When the trumpet sounds, he says ‘Aha!’

He smells the battle from afar,

the thunder of the captains, and the shouting.

26“Is it by your wisdom that the hawk soars,

and spreads his wings toward the south?

27Is it at your command that the eagle mounts up

and makes his nest on high?

28On the rock he dwells and makes his home

in the fastness of the rocky crag.

29Thence he spies out the prey;

his eyes behold it afar off.

30His young ones suck up blood;

and where the slain are, there is he.”

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