Public collection via the Cleveland Museum of Art
AT-00000324About the Artwork
Degas returned to the theme of horse and rider time and again throughout his career. Scholars believe that he executed the first version of this composition of four jockeys on horseback in a charcoal and pastel drawing. Several years later, he traced the composition, reversing its orientation to create the highly finished Cleveland pastel. The palette is intensified, the distance between the second and third jockeys is increased, and the foliage along the horizon has been added to suggest a lush spring day.
Inscriptions
signed, lower right, in black pastel: Degas
Provenance
by 1918-after 1933: Henry Lerolle [1848–1929], Paris ?-?: (Hector Brame, Paris) ?-?: (César M. de Hauke, New York) after 1933-1939: (Jacques Seligmann, New York, sold to Leonard C. Hanna, Jr., Cleveland, OH) 1939-1958: Leonard C. Hanna Jr. [1889–1957], Cleveland, OH, given to the Cleveland Museum of Art 1958-: Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
Exhibition history
Works of Edgar Degas. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (February 5-March 9, 1947). In Memoriam: Leonard C. Hanna, Jr.. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (March 4-April 7, 1958). Creativity in Art and Science, 1860-1960. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (September 16-November 8, 1987). Master Drawings from the Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (August 27-October 17, 2000). Time Stands Still: Muybridge and the Instantaneous Photography Movement. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (February 15-May 16, 2004). Monet to Dalí: Modern Masters from the Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (October 21, 2007-January 13, 2008). Treasures on Paper from the Collection of the Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (March 9-June 8, 2014). Pure Color: Pastels from the Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (November 19, 2016-March 19, 2017). Nineteenth-Century French Drawings from the Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (January 20-June 11, 2023).
Data retrieved from the Cleveland Museum of Art on October 7, 2026. The museum may have updated its record since.
Quick Overview
- Artist
- Edgar Degas (French, 1834–1917)
- Date
- c. 1887–89
- Medium
- pastel with charcoal underdrawing on tracing paper mounted on cardboard
- Dimensions
- Sheet: 57.5 x 65.4 cm (22 5/8 x 25 3/4 in.)
- Type
- Drawing
- Classification
- Drawing
- Department
- Drawings
- Credit line
- Bequest of Leonard C. Hanna Jr.
- Accession no.
- 1958.27
More by Edgar Degas in museum collections
Open-access museum record · AT-00000324
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