Dos-a-dos

René Pierre Charles Princeteau was born in Libourne in 1844 and received his first artistic training from Augustin Dumont(1801-1884), Dominique Maggesi(1807-1892) and Jean Baptiste Gustave Deloye(1848-1899). The deaf-mute artist excelled in the depiction of horses and cattle in Barbizon-like landscapes and received various honours during his career. He was well acquainted with the Toulouse- Lautrec family and is assumed to have initiated the young Henri in the art of painting, eventually influencing his first pictures. The present lot features a brightly dressed lady Whip in a dos à dos, drawn by elegant black hackney horses. The lady Whip is further accompanied by an elderly lady with a parasol and a liveried groom seated in the back of the cart. Towards the end of the century, fashionable Spider Phaetons as such were used to show off one's magnificent equipage. A reason to assume the picture was commissioned by the young lady herself.