Provenance

Galerie Schmidt

Explore Selected Works

Edgar Degas, Study of a Jockey, c. 1884, charcoal on brown paper, Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon, 1999.79.12

Study of a Jockey

Edgar Degas · c. 1884 · charcoal on brown paper ·  Accession ID  1999.79.12

This horizontal painting shows a harbor scene filled with tall-masted ships and steamships adorned with colorful flags. The masts of the ship to our left dominate the composition, reaching almost to the top edge of the painting. This ship has a black and white hull and is docked alongside a quay lined with buildings in the left third of the painting. The masts are rigged with ropes and draped with long, strings of flags in red, yellow, blue, and white. A group of people with light-colored clothing gather in small boats around the ship to our left. Another vessel moored in the middle of the painting is also strung with flags, and to our right, a dark steamship with a single smokestack is festooned with similar banners. It floats farther from the quay and town buildings. The water is busy with many people swimming or floating, particularly toward the lower right. Dense buildings line the opposite shore under a blue sky scattered with soft, white clouds. The horizon comes about a third of the way up the composition so most of the flags are outlined against the sky. The artist signed the lower left corner, “Boudin” with the number 5 followed by an illegible number. In the lower right is the location with some of the letters missing so it reads “Hon eur.”
Eugène Boudin, Festival in the Harbor of Honfleur, 1858, oil on wood, Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon, 1983.1.10

Festival in the Harbor of Honfleur

Eugène Boudin · 1858 · oil on wood ·  Accession ID  1983.1.10

André Derain, View of the Thames, 1906, oil on canvas, Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon, 1985.64.12

View of the Thames

André Derain · 1906 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  1985.64.12

Three men on horseback wearing elaborate military uniforms in cream white, crimson red, and gold almost fill this vertical painting. Lit dramatically from the upper left, the men all have peachy, tanned skin. Their red and white uniforms are trimmed liberally with gold. Each man wears a red sash across his chest, cream-white gloves that reach back to mid-forearm, and a tall hat topped with a single, stiff, white feather. At the center of the composition, the man closest to us rides a horse dappled with silver, steel gray, and black, which raises a front hoof as if in mid-stride. The horse and rider’s bodies are angled to our right, but the horse looks back to our left as the man looks directly at us with small brown eyes. His slender nose slopes to a brown handlebar moustache that curves over his pale peach mouth. He leans slightly back in the saddle, which is draped with a scarlet-red blanket with gold trim. The leg we see, to our left, is extended straight in the stirrup, and the man braces a brass trumpet adorned with gold tassels against that thigh. His helmet has a high, square, white crown that comes to points to each side and in front. The boxy shape is outlined in red and has the stiff, bushy feather at the top front and a red tassel hanging along one side. An arched brass plaque with a capital N is affixed to the front of the helmet over a narrow brim. Though held in place with a chin strap, the helmet is slightly askew. To our left and behind the central man, a white horse and rider face away from us. This rider’s upper body is turned back slightly to our right so we see him in profile as he holds a brass horn to his lips. To our right and set father back, the third rider and his gray horse are very loosely painted so features of his face and costume are not clear. All three stand on a ground painted with swipes of caramel brown, mustard yellow, and pine green. The background is slightly darker, in smoky tones of brown, gray, and black with flicks of red. A dark mass, perhaps a deep shadow, rises to the right, behind the third horseman.
Théodore Gericault, Mounted Trumpeters of Napoleon's Imperial Guard, 1813/1814, oil on canvas, Chester Dale Fund, 1972.25.1

Mounted Trumpeters of Napoleon's Imperial Guard

Théodore Gericault · 1813/1814 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  1972.25.1