Den Dikke van Sesjans Horse Sculpture

Bronze horse, a work of art by Jan Desmarets.
Horses are a very frequently recurring subject in his work.
His works include the Ros Beiaard statue in Dendermonde, the "Waregem Koerse" statue (of course in Waregem) and - on order of the then (2003) federal government - the wedding gift for Prince Laurent and Princess Claire.The statue was made on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the stallion farm of the Matthijs - De Mey - De Brauwer family.
Charles-Louis Matthijs (1796-1890) settled here as a farmer and stallion owner and was already actively involved in horse breeding in 1842. His most famous horse - not yet on the studbook - was Jan, de dik van Matthijs or van Hemelveerdegem or ... den Dikke van Sesjans (corruption of Sint Jans).
'Den Dikke' can be regarded as one of the founders of what would later become the Belgian draft horse.
Now he watches over his farm suspiciously, with his ass towards the public. The restored farm is now… a horse boarding house.Sources:
lierde.be/Vrije-tijd/toerisme/wandelen-en-fietsen/picknick-en-rustbanken/6-den-dikken-van-sesjans
nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jan_Desmarets
jandesmarets.com/werken.php