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拍品專文
Dr. Theodore Reff has confirmed the authenticity of this painting.
Degas painted this delicately-rendered, grisaille study of a jockey astride his mount at the very height of his interest in racing and the track, a period that lasted from the late 1860s into the mid-1870s. He had included horses and riders in his early historical paintings, but like other young and progressively-minded painters who followed in the wake of Manet, he was eager to treat scenes from contemporary life. He attended provincial races in the early 1860s while visiting his friend Paul Valpinçon's newly-acquired estate in Normandy, which was located near the national breeding stables at Haras-le-Pin and the small track at Argentan. This early engagement with racing resulted in several paintings, including the dramatic Scène de steeplechase (Au courses, le jockey blessé) (Lemoisne, no. 140; The Paul Mellon Bequest to the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.) which Degas showed at the official Salon of 1866. (For a related study of the jockey in this painting, please see the following sale of Impressionist and Modern Works on Paper, 3 May 2006, lot 208).
After a brief period during the mid-1860s, in which he depicted the hunt (see lot 102) and family equestrian outings, Degas returned to the subject of the races late in the decade. He began frequenting the popular track at Longchamps and other courses on the outskirts of Paris. Jean Sutherland Boggs has written: "This interest in a public urban life was consistent with his increasing attachment to the theater, particularly the ballet. In considering the spectacles at the opera he never forgot the individual dancers or singers, including their training and rehearsals. In the same way, at the racecourse he never dismissed the individuality of horses and jockeys nor his admiration for the discipline it took to bring them to the track" (in Degas at the Races, exh. cat., National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1998, p. 82).
The present Jockey à cheval is one of a group of extraordinarily subtle and detailed studies, in which the artist's subjects possess a beautiful sense of presence. In this work especially, Degas has characterized the jockey with a life-like individuality, as if he were drawing in paint. Degas executed these studies in one of his typically idiosyncratic techniques, in which he employed gouache over paper infused with thinned oil medium, huile à l'essence. The artist was particularly interested in depicting the glint of sunlight on the luster of the jockeys' silks (their colored jackets and caps), and the faint sheen on the surface of the oil-treated paper helped to suggest this effect. Essence also darkened the paper, allowing Degas to create stronger contrasts between the ground and his adeptly placed highlights.
The pose in this study has been casually observed, and has a very natural, unforced appearance. This jockey subsequently served the artist well on at least several occasions. He appears in the painting Aux courses (les jockeys) (Lemoisne, no. 184; fig. 1), a composition which Degas reworked over a period of years. Lemoisne dated this painting 1868; the small and barely legible illustration in his catalogue shows the composition in a later, still incomplete and somewhat incoherent state. The dealer Ambroise Vollard purchased it out of the Third Vente Atelier Degas in 1919 (lot 36) and attempted to restore the picture to its original appearance. However, it was not until 1959 that X-ray photographs revealed the initial composition and the over-paint was cleaned off. The painting was sold in this restored state at Christie's New York, 18 October 1977, lot 4, as illustrated in fig. 1. The figure in Jockey à cheval appears directly behind the couple standing in the foreground. (For another essence study related to this scene, see sale Christie's, London, 9 February 2006, lot 508).
A jockey in this pose also appears, as the third rider from the left, in Chevaux de courses (Devant les tribunes), painted in 1866-1872 (Lemoisne, no. 262; Musée d'Orsay, Paris). He shows up again, in the foreground on the right side, in Jockeys avant la course (Lemoisne, no. 649; The Barber Institute of Fine Arts, University of Birmingham), a painting in essence executed in 1878-1879. Boggs has noted that these jockey studies--rendered with extreme care for both the accuracy of their poses and the details in their costumes--"are remarkable examples of Degas' draftsmanship with paint and highly sympathetic records of the jockeys themselves, if as a type rather than as individuals. And they were undoubtedly indispensable to his paintings of racecourse scenes." (op. cit., p. 93).
(fig. 1) Edgar Degas, Aux courses, les jockeys, circa 1868, sold, Christie's New York, 18 October 1977, lot 4.
Degas painted this delicately-rendered, grisaille study of a jockey astride his mount at the very height of his interest in racing and the track, a period that lasted from the late 1860s into the mid-1870s. He had included horses and riders in his early historical paintings, but like other young and progressively-minded painters who followed in the wake of Manet, he was eager to treat scenes from contemporary life. He attended provincial races in the early 1860s while visiting his friend Paul Valpinçon's newly-acquired estate in Normandy, which was located near the national breeding stables at Haras-le-Pin and the small track at Argentan. This early engagement with racing resulted in several paintings, including the dramatic Scène de steeplechase (Au courses, le jockey blessé) (Lemoisne, no. 140; The Paul Mellon Bequest to the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.) which Degas showed at the official Salon of 1866. (For a related study of the jockey in this painting, please see the following sale of Impressionist and Modern Works on Paper, 3 May 2006, lot 208).
After a brief period during the mid-1860s, in which he depicted the hunt (see lot 102) and family equestrian outings, Degas returned to the subject of the races late in the decade. He began frequenting the popular track at Longchamps and other courses on the outskirts of Paris. Jean Sutherland Boggs has written: "This interest in a public urban life was consistent with his increasing attachment to the theater, particularly the ballet. In considering the spectacles at the opera he never forgot the individual dancers or singers, including their training and rehearsals. In the same way, at the racecourse he never dismissed the individuality of horses and jockeys nor his admiration for the discipline it took to bring them to the track" (in Degas at the Races, exh. cat., National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1998, p. 82).
The present Jockey à cheval is one of a group of extraordinarily subtle and detailed studies, in which the artist's subjects possess a beautiful sense of presence. In this work especially, Degas has characterized the jockey with a life-like individuality, as if he were drawing in paint. Degas executed these studies in one of his typically idiosyncratic techniques, in which he employed gouache over paper infused with thinned oil medium, huile à l'essence. The artist was particularly interested in depicting the glint of sunlight on the luster of the jockeys' silks (their colored jackets and caps), and the faint sheen on the surface of the oil-treated paper helped to suggest this effect. Essence also darkened the paper, allowing Degas to create stronger contrasts between the ground and his adeptly placed highlights.
The pose in this study has been casually observed, and has a very natural, unforced appearance. This jockey subsequently served the artist well on at least several occasions. He appears in the painting Aux courses (les jockeys) (Lemoisne, no. 184; fig. 1), a composition which Degas reworked over a period of years. Lemoisne dated this painting 1868; the small and barely legible illustration in his catalogue shows the composition in a later, still incomplete and somewhat incoherent state. The dealer Ambroise Vollard purchased it out of the Third Vente Atelier Degas in 1919 (lot 36) and attempted to restore the picture to its original appearance. However, it was not until 1959 that X-ray photographs revealed the initial composition and the over-paint was cleaned off. The painting was sold in this restored state at Christie's New York, 18 October 1977, lot 4, as illustrated in fig. 1. The figure in Jockey à cheval appears directly behind the couple standing in the foreground. (For another essence study related to this scene, see sale Christie's, London, 9 February 2006, lot 508).
A jockey in this pose also appears, as the third rider from the left, in Chevaux de courses (Devant les tribunes), painted in 1866-1872 (Lemoisne, no. 262; Musée d'Orsay, Paris). He shows up again, in the foreground on the right side, in Jockeys avant la course (Lemoisne, no. 649; The Barber Institute of Fine Arts, University of Birmingham), a painting in essence executed in 1878-1879. Boggs has noted that these jockey studies--rendered with extreme care for both the accuracy of their poses and the details in their costumes--"are remarkable examples of Degas' draftsmanship with paint and highly sympathetic records of the jockeys themselves, if as a type rather than as individuals. And they were undoubtedly indispensable to his paintings of racecourse scenes." (op. cit., p. 93).
(fig. 1) Edgar Degas, Aux courses, les jockeys, circa 1868, sold, Christie's New York, 18 October 1977, lot 4.