Degas at the Races: Paintings and Drawings

Alexander and Bucephalus, 1859-1861, oil on canvas, National Gallery of Art, Washington, Bequest of Lore Heinemann in memory of her husband, Dr. Rudolf J. Heinemann previous next back to paintings and drawings

For artists of Degas' era, history painting was revered as the most honorable and prestigious type of painting. It was emphasized at the École des Beaux-Arts and was exhibited most prominently at the Salon. Although Degas is now regarded chiefly as a master of impressionism, he followed this tradition in his works of the 1850s and 1860s.

Alexander and Bucephalus may very well be Degas' first history painting. It is one of three versions of the subject--two painted in oil and one in watercolor. This is a large picture--forty-five by thirty-five inches--a size appropriate for history paintings, which were expected to be physically ambitious and grand, as well as intellectual and erudite.

Degas depicts a scene from ancient history, the story of the young Alexander the Great and Bucephalus, a horse no one could tame. Bucephalus actually means "ox head," an apt name because of the animal's stubbornness. Alexander's father had warned him away from the horse, reputed to be dangerous, but Alexander had watched the trainers as they tried to tame Bucephalus and noticed that the horse seemed to shy away from his shadow. The clever youth, who would later conquer most of the known world, turned the animal's head so it could no longer see its shadow, after which it became docile. And so Alexander tamed Bucephalus. It's a wonderful story, demonstrating the intelligence of the boy and symbolizing his ability to tame the world in the future. That Degas chose this moment is particularly interesting, for in some ways it can be consrued as an analogy to the artist's taming and gaining control over his art.

Degas kept this painting his entire life; it was in his studio when he died. It is a difficult painting to date precisely because it has been heavily reworked, something typical of Degas the perfectionist. While the horse is finely painted, the foreground is filled with big, bold brushstrokes. There are also differences in the treatment of Alexander's drapery and the loosely painted costume of the figure at the right dressed in a similar pink robe.