I am of two thoughts when it comes to the current maybe-probably Wedgewood Blue BreyerFest Special Run sneak peek:
It might be a play on the Danube River, the second longest river in Europe that also happens to originate in southern Germany. The Danube is the subject of the famous waltz “The Blue Danube” by Austrian composer Johann Strauss. It’s a song you’ve heard just about everywhere, from 2001: A Space Odyssey to Squid Game. Some of the relevant lyrics here:
Danube so blue,
so bright and blue,
through vale and field
you flow so calm,
our Vienna greets you,
your silver stream
through all the lands
you merry the heart
with your beautiful shores.
There’s also a subtle equine connection at play here: the German name for the Danube is Donau, which also happened to be the name of the ill-fated 1910 Kentucky Derby winner!
The other line of thinking is that this release might be (as I speculated a while ago) related to German Expressionism: either The Blue Rider School (Der Blaue Reiter) or specifically to the artwork of Franz Marc, whose artwork frequently featured… blue horses.
If they go with the latter idea, I would hope (again, as I speculated back in late July) they would do a modified version of Wedgewood Blue with a darker blue mane and tail, to replicate the horses in Marc’s work.
I have no idea what mold this would be. I know a lot of people are hoping/fearing that this will be Georg, but I’m personally rooting for something more Warmblood-ish, like the Cleveland Bay.
Either way, this model will possibly create a conundrum. I was hoping to get away from BreyerFest with relatively little financial damage, but with the Gummi Bears, the Stablemates, that magnificent Fireheart Stein, and now maybe/probably The Blue Horse, I can see this is not going to be the case.
Speaking of Stein, while we all get annoyed at times with Reeves shoehorning in newer releases into BreyerFest themes where they don’t necessarily belong (rolling my eyes, again, at the Wyatt Marzipan) I am a little surprised that they did not mention Germany’s fascination with the American Old West after World War II. It would have created a more palatable rationale for its inclusion, rather than an obtuse one about its color.
Off to do a little online seed shopping. Will this be the year I finally get Penstemon to grow from seed?
4 comments:
Excellent points. I have slowly become more aware of German things in my environment, from Ravensburger puzzles to Friederich Dick files (no one will do a run on that one, alas!) to Jarlsberg cheese. I'm sure there's more.
I figured to see alot of dressage/Olympic things for Germany tbh I will be limited to whatever will be offered to online participation because 2nd hand prices are out of my range.
I have to be honest, Breyer sucks at justifying their choices. They definely do not have the culture needed to do things right in regard of their thema... in the end they just sold horses with popular colors to please collectors ;)
Addendum, My mistake, alas! Jarlsberg is not German but Norwegian.
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