A Horse Hitched to a Post

c. 1820

Eugène Delacroix

Associated Names
Eugène Delacroix

Painter, French, 1798 - 1863

This is a painting of a red horse standing on a patch of tan ground, tethered by a rope to a tall brown post. The horse's reddish-brown coat is rich and glossy, with white highlights. It faces the left, with its ears pricked up. One of its back legs is slightly raised. The ground behind the horse is flat, with patches of yellow ochre, brown, and dark green. The sky above is a mix of blue tones, with light blue near the horizon and darker blue-green at the top of the painting. The brushstrokes in the painting are thick and visible.

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Artwork overview

  • Medium

    oil on canvas

  • Credit Line

    Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon

  • Dimensions

    overall: 19.4 x 21.3 cm (7 5/8 x 8 3/8 in.)
    framed: 28.7 x 31.1 x 5.1 cm (11 5/16 x 12 1/4 x 2 in.)

  • Accession Number

    1994.59.17

Artwork history & notes

Provenance

(Delacroix posthumous sale, Hôtel Drouot, Paris, February 1864, no. 84); Etienne-François Haro [1827-1897]; his son, Henri Haro [1855-1911]; Haro family; (sale, Neuilly-sur-Seine, 22 February 1934, no. 13).[1] Dubourg collection; acquired 1959 by (Wildenstein & Co., New York);[2] sold 1960 to Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon, Upperville, Virginia; gift 1994 to NGA.
[1] Provenance from Lee Johnson, The Paintings of Eugène Delacroix: A Critical Catalogue, 6 vols., Oxford, 1981: 1:228, M3.
[2] Wildenstein date and source of acquisition according to a letter dated 14 December 1998, in NGA curatorial files. This may be Jacques Dubourg (1897-1981), an art dealer in Paris from the late 1920s.

Associated Names

Exhibition History

1864

  • Oeuvres d'Eugène Delacroix, Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts, Paris, 1864, no. 43.

1932

  • Eugène Delacroix et ses Amis, Atelier Delacroix, Paris, 1932, no. 40.

Bibliography

1885

  • Robaut, Alfred. L'Oeuvre complet de Eugène Delacroix, peintures, dessins, gravures, lithographies. Paris, 1885: no. 1866.

1981

  • Johnson, Lee. The Paintings of Eugène Delacroix: A Critical Catalogue. 6 vols. Oxford, 1981: 1:228, no. M3; 2:pl. 176, as A Bay Attached to a Post in a Field.

Wikidata ID

Q20184343

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