Scene from the Steeplechase - the Fallen Jockey

The fall, which is a subject of its own

Steeplechasing is racing over obstacles, and the title of this work goes straight to the accident: a fallen jockey. Racing pictures overwhelmingly show horses running or waiting to run, and the small number that show a fall are doing something else. They record the risk the sport was built on. The animal's function here is still competitive, but the picture is about the moment that function breaks down.

What the record holds

The catalogue gives 1866 as the date of creation and a private collection as the location. No dimensions are recorded. Impressionism is the style term and French the nationality attached to the painter. The categories carry group portraiture alongside Animal Art > Horse, and the measured colour family of the image is brown.

What this entry does not claim

The record names no course, no race, no rider and no horse. Pictures of this subject are often connected in the literature to particular incidents; none of that connection is present in this catalogue, and this entry does not import it. What can be said from the record is the category, the date, the collection status and the style term — and that the title identifies the subject as a steeplechase fall.