Cheval galopant

This drawing is closely related to one of the same subject in the Nasjonalgalleriet, Oslo, which the museum acquired in the same sale at Galerie Georges Petit, as lot 212a. In reference to the latter work, Jean Sutherland Boggs has written, "The more nearly sentimental side of Degas...comes out in charcoal drawings of young horses out for pasture in a state of perfect freedom, undoubtedly fenced but unfettered by harness, saddle or rider. One colt, with a gentle expression conveyed by its large black eyes, can only be described as gamboling, apparently flying through the air...The only evidence to suggest a date [1885-1890] for these drawings is that the handling of the charcoal is very close to the contours in a drawing made for the sculpture of the fourteen-year-old dancer nude" (in Degas at the Races, exh. cat., National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1998, p. 140).