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Lot Essay
Degas' Deux Cavaliers is an iconic example of the artist’s depictions of modernity and leisure at the end of the nineteenth century. Executed with rich pastels, the composition portrays two fashionably dressed men on horseback—a radical choice of angle which leaves the figures anonymous. The loosely rendered green background around the riders hints at the outdoor setting of the scene but does not reveal their identity or location—instead, they are symbols of modern leisure. The radical cropping of the two horses further imbues the scene with movement, creating a snapshot effect which would have been influenced by Degas’ studies of Eadweard Muybridge’s motion photography.
The pastel remained in the artist’s collection until his death, offered at auction in the Third Atelier sale of 1919. It was then owned by the French Jewish banker and renowned collector Baron Guy de Rothschild (1909-2007) from whom it was confiscated by the Einsatzstab Reichsleiter Rosenberg during the Nazi Occupation of Paris. After the war, the work was recovered by the Monuments Fine Arts and Archives Section from the Altaussee salt mines in Austria and was restituted to the Rothschild family in 1947. It was subsequently acquired by Joanna and Johnny Carson in 1984.
The pastel remained in the artist’s collection until his death, offered at auction in the Third Atelier sale of 1919. It was then owned by the French Jewish banker and renowned collector Baron Guy de Rothschild (1909-2007) from whom it was confiscated by the Einsatzstab Reichsleiter Rosenberg during the Nazi Occupation of Paris. After the war, the work was recovered by the Monuments Fine Arts and Archives Section from the Altaussee salt mines in Austria and was restituted to the Rothschild family in 1947. It was subsequently acquired by Joanna and Johnny Carson in 1984.