Omnibus in Place Pigalle in Paris

Public transport, animal-powered

An omnibus is not a private carriage. It runs a route, carries strangers for a fare and keeps to a timetable, and the animals in front of it are doing shift work in a city. That is the least ceremonial job a horse holds anywhere in this catalogue, and the one with the most direct economic description attached to it.

What the record holds

The date of creation is 1882 and the location line reads Private Collection. The dimensions are 18 x 27.5 cm, among the smallest measurements in the collection. Realism is the style term on the record and Italian the nationality; the measured colour family of the image is red. City landscape, tree, architectural and cultural heritage headings accompany Animal Art > Horse.

A named place

The title names a square in Paris. A place name in a transport picture does more than locate a scene: it identifies a stop on a network, which is what an omnibus title normally records. The catalogue holds nothing about the route, the operator or the service, and this entry does not supply them from elsewhere.