Race Horses at Longchamp

A course named in the title

Most racing entries in this catalogue name the event or the participants. This one names the ground: Longchamp. A named course changes what the picture is about, because a racecourse is a built object, a measured circuit with an enclosure and stands, and the animals inside it are working within a fixed geometry rather than crossing open country.

What the record holds

The date of creation is 1874 and the location is the Museum of Fine Arts (MFA), in Boston. The dimensions are 34 x 41.9 cm. The record gives Impressionism as the style term, French as the nationality, and brown and yellow as the measured colour families of the image. Field and eco-nature headings sit alongside Animal Art > Horse.

Where this sits among the racing records

25 records in this catalogue carry a race, a derby, a steeplechase, a grand prix or a racecourse in the title, and 10 name a jockey. This entry belongs to the first count and not the second: it names the animals and the ground, and leaves the riders out of the title entirely. That is a count over these records and not a claim about how the sport was painted generally.