Hand-painted in oil
About this Artwork
At the Races: The Start is an oil painting by Edgar Degas in the Harvard Art Museums/Fogg Museum, catalogued as object 1934.30. Harvard dates it to approximately 1860–1862 and records the canvas at 33 by 47 centimeters. The work entered the collection through Annie Swan Coburn’s bequest. [2]
Subject and early method
Harvard’s gallery text describes four jockeys nearing a race’s starting point. It explains the different brown tones of the horses as an early solution to keeping their bodies and legs visually distinct. The museum connects the poses with British prints and Géricault, noting that the raised leg of the leftmost horse resembles dressage. [2]
Later change in Degas's horses
The museum places this early picture within a longer development in Degas’s treatment of movement. It identifies Muybridge’s photographs, published in 1887, as an important later point of reference for his horses. [2]
Sources
2 references- Degas, Edgar — Getty ULAN
French painter, sculptor, 1834-1917
- At the Races: The Start — Harvard Art Museums
artist: Hilaire-Germain-Edgar Degas; date: c. 1860-c. 1862; medium: Oil on canvas; dimensions: 33 x 47 cm (13 x 18 1/2 in.) frame: 45.7 x 59.7 x 7 cm (18 x 23 1/2 x 2 3/4 in.); credit: Harvard Art Museums/Fogg Museum, Bequest of Annie Swan
