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Lot Essay
Alec Wildenstein will include this work in a forthcoming supplement to the Redon catalogue raisonné currently being prepared under the sponsorship of the Wildenstein Institute.
The centaur is one of the more endearing and sympathetic characters in Greek mythology. It was part man, from head to loins, with the remaining part of its body comprised by the torso, legs and tail of a horse. The creature was generally believed to combine the more admirable traits of the human character with the beneficial aspects of the natural order.
Redon was drawn to the symbolism of the centaur early in his career. Eugène Delacroix exhibited his painting Education of Achilles, 1862 (Johnson, no. 341; Private collection) at the twelfth annual exhibition of the Société des amis des arts in 1863. It depicts Achilles mounted on the centaur Chiron's back, learning the arts of archery and the hunt. Redon made a drawing after Delacroix's painting, which he kept and prized for the rest of his life. The centaur that Redon generally depicts in his paintings and drawings is Chiron, who had been instructed by Apollo and Diana, and was renowned for his skill in hunting, medicine, music and the art of prophecy.
The centaur is one of the more endearing and sympathetic characters in Greek mythology. It was part man, from head to loins, with the remaining part of its body comprised by the torso, legs and tail of a horse. The creature was generally believed to combine the more admirable traits of the human character with the beneficial aspects of the natural order.
Redon was drawn to the symbolism of the centaur early in his career. Eugène Delacroix exhibited his painting Education of Achilles, 1862 (Johnson, no. 341; Private collection) at the twelfth annual exhibition of the Société des amis des arts in 1863. It depicts Achilles mounted on the centaur Chiron's back, learning the arts of archery and the hunt. Redon made a drawing after Delacroix's painting, which he kept and prized for the rest of his life. The centaur that Redon generally depicts in his paintings and drawings is Chiron, who had been instructed by Apollo and Diana, and was renowned for his skill in hunting, medicine, music and the art of prophecy.