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Lot Essay
This drawing is a preparatory study for the figure of the jockey who has been thrown from his horse and lies unconscious in the foreground of the painting Scène de steeplechase (Au courses, le jockey blessé), 1866 (Lemoisne, no. 140; coll. The Paul Mellon Bequest, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.). It is believed that Degas' brother Achille posed for the jockey, whose supine position was influenced by Manet's Le torero morte (Wildenstein, no. 72; coll. National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.). Jean Sutherland Boggs has noted that in this study "Degas' principal interest was in the jockey's jacket, working out the play of light on the silk" (op. cit., pp. 54-55).
Degas exhibited Scène de steeplechase in the Salon of 1866. The painting did not make the dramatic impact Degas intended, and he reworked it in 1880-1881, adding a second rider-less horse. Degas painted a second version of this subject, Jockey blessé, circa 1896-98, showing only a single horse and fallen figure (Lemoisne, no. 141; coll. Kunstmuseum Basel).
Degas exhibited Scène de steeplechase in the Salon of 1866. The painting did not make the dramatic impact Degas intended, and he reworked it in 1880-1881, adding a second rider-less horse. Degas painted a second version of this subject, Jockey blessé, circa 1896-98, showing only a single horse and fallen figure (Lemoisne, no. 141; coll. Kunstmuseum Basel).