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Horse with Head Lowered

Edgar Degas (French, 1834–1917). Horse with Head Lowered, ca. 1885 (cast executed 1919–21). Bronze, edition 22/K; 7 5/8 x 10 3/4 x 3 1/8 inches (19.4 x 27.3 x 7.9 cm). Collection Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, New York; Bequest of A. Conger Goodyear, 1966 (1966:9.23). 

Public Domain

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Public Domain

Image downloads are for educational use only. For all other purposes, please see our Obtaining and Using Images page.

Public Domain

Image downloads are for educational use only. For all other purposes, please see our Obtaining and Using Images page.

Edgar Degas

French, 1834-1917

Horse with Head Lowered, ca. 1885 (cast executed 1919-1921)

bronze

Edition: 22/K

overall: 7 5/8 x 10 3/4 x 3 1/8 inches (19.37 x 27.3 x 7.94 cm)

Collection Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, New York

Bequest of A. Conger Goodyear, 1966

1966:9.23

More Details

Inscriptions

foundry mark; stamp / base, rear / cire/perdue/ A A HEBRARD
signature, undated / base, rear center / Degas
edition notation; foundry mark / base, rear / 22/K

Provenance

A. A. Hébrard, Paris;
purchased from him by A. Conger Goodyear, New York, 1923;
bequeathed to the Albright-Knox Art Gallery, 1966

Class

Sculpture

Work Type

Cast (sculpture)

Information may change due to ongoing research.Glossary of Terms

Throughout his career, Edgar Degas took an interest in equestrian scenes and executed numerous works on the theme. Most of the horses he chose to depict were Thoroughbreds: horses bred specifically for speed and as potential competitive racers. As Degas spent time with such animals, he further developed an innate ability to capture their elegant, spirited movements. After the artist’s death, nearly one hundred and fifty clay and wax maquettes of horses and other subjects were discovered in his studio and apartment. Although it may never have been the artist’s intention to distinguish these works with the permanence of bronze, Degas’s heirs approved the casting of seventy-two figures from this group, including Horse with Head Lowered. Acting more like three-dimensional sketches, such objects allowed the artist to further explore the dynamics of movement and muscular tension within the body.

Label from Menagerie: Animals on View, March 11–June 4, 2017

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Other Works by This Artist

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  • A woman wearing a low-cut pink evening dress and elbow-length gloves sits at the center of this horizontally oriented painting. What appears to be a multicolored furred or feathered garment rests on the back of her red chair. Her face, oriented left, is largely obscured by shadow. She clutches a folded fan in her right hand and adjusts the top of her left hand. The entire scene is loosely painted in a palette dominated by dark greens and yellows.
    Edgar Degas
    Portrait de Mlle Rose Caron (Portrait of Rose Caron) ,
  • Mlle Fiocre dans le ballet "La Source" (Mademoiselle Fiocre in the ballet "La Source")
    Edgar Degas
    Mlle Fiocre dans le ballet "La Source" (Mademoiselle Fiocre in the ballet "La Source") ,
  • Study of a Cavalier
    Edgar Degas
    Étude de cavalier (Study of a Horseman) ,
  • Degas à la redingote noire (Self-Portrait)
    Edgar Degas
    Degas à la redingote noire (Self-Portrait) ,

Animals

Dinamismo di un cane al guinzaglio (Dynamism of a Dog on a Leash)
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Dinamismo di un cane al guinzaglio (Dynamism of a Dog on a Leash) ,
Horse with Head Lowered
Edgar Degas
Horse with Head Lowered ,
Study of a Cavalier
Edgar Degas
Étude de cavalier (Study of a Horseman) ,
Cat and Dog from the portfolio Kingdom of Dreams
Jacob Landau
Cat and Dog from the portfolio Kingdom of Dreams ,
Cat and Dog from the portfolio Kingdom of Dreams
Jacob Landau
Cat and Dog from the portfolio Kingdom of Dreams ,
Die Wölfe (Balkankrieg) [The Wolves (Balkan War)]
Franz Marc
Die Wölfe (Balkankrieg) [The Wolves (Balkan War)] ,
This painting features a beige-color room full of fantastical creatures performing music and acrobatics, and floating through the air. These colorful beings are shaped like musical instruments, insects, animals, and mermaids and interact with instruments, musical notes, a ladder, dice, unicycle, a shooting star, and other objects. A window at top right looks out onto a landscape, and beneath it is a table with a fish, a globe, and papers.
Joan Miró
Carnaval d'Arlequin (Carnival of Harlequin) ,
Femme et oiseaux dans la nuit (Woman and Birds in the Night)
Joan Miró
Femme et oiseaux dans la nuit (Woman and Birds in the Night) ,

No image available,
but we're working on it

Dieter Roth
2 Times 5 Dogs ,
Zum Welttierschutztag (For World Animal Day) from the portfolio Fromage a Durer
Klaus Staeck
Zum Welttierschutztag (For World Animal Day) from the portfolio Fromage a Durer ,

No image available,
but we're working on it

unknown Mexican
Head of a Monkey ,

French Impressionism

Similarly short, distinct brushstrokes coalesce into the trees and shallow, walled pool that fill this landscape. A thin-trunked tree with light-dappled yellow-green foliage fills much of the left side of the canvas. Behind the tree, a low sandy colored wall contains a shallow, rectangular pool of water. Additional trees with darker green leaves line the right edge of the pool, extending to the upper edge of the canvas.
Paul Cézanne
Le bassin du Jas de Bouffan (The Pool at Jas de Bouffan) ,
Horse with Head Lowered
Edgar Degas
Horse with Head Lowered ,
Mlle Fiocre dans le ballet "La Source" (Mademoiselle Fiocre in the ballet "La Source")
Edgar Degas
Mlle Fiocre dans le ballet "La Source" (Mademoiselle Fiocre in the ballet "La Source") ,
A woman wearing a low-cut pink evening dress and elbow-length gloves sits at the center of this horizontally oriented painting. What appears to be a multicolored furred or feathered garment rests on the back of her red chair. Her face, oriented left, is largely obscured by shadow. She clutches a folded fan in her right hand and adjusts the top of her left hand. The entire scene is loosely painted in a palette dominated by dark greens and yellows.
Edgar Degas
Portrait de Mlle Rose Caron (Portrait of Rose Caron) ,
Degas à la redingote noire (Self-Portrait)
Edgar Degas
Degas à la redingote noire (Self-Portrait) ,
Study of a Cavalier
Edgar Degas
Étude de cavalier (Study of a Horseman) ,
Étude de nu pour la danseuse habillée (Study in the Nude for the Dressed Ballet Dancer)
Edgar Degas
Étude de nu pour la danseuse habillée (Study in the Nude for the Dressed Ballet Dancer) ,
L'acteur Tragique (Rouvière dans le rôle d'Hamlet) [The Tragic Actor (Rouvière in the role of Hamlet)]
Édouard Manet

L'acteur Tragique (Rouvière dans le rôle d'Hamlet) [The Tragic Actor (Rouvière in the role of Hamlet)]

,
Le Corbeau (The Raven)
Édouard Manet
At the window ("Open here I flung the shutter...") from The Raven (Le Corbeau) ,
This wintery landscape features a path that follows a still gray river as it curves from the bottom right corner of the canvas and recede into the distance under an overcast sky. On the right side of the painting, smokestacks on a distant are reflected in the water. Four small figures summarily rendered in dark tones walk on the path, with one appearing to move toward the viewer. To the left is a patch of trees and grass that peeks out beneath melting snow.
Claude Monet
Chemin de halage à Argenteuil (Towpath at Argenteuil, Winter) ,
This horizontally oriented canvas features a loosely painted rural scene of several old stone houses and a dirt road running between them. Tall trees rise above behind the roofs. The grey and somber light that pervades the scene overall streams from a cloudy sky in the top quarter of the canvas. In the painting’s middle ground, a human figure wearing a blue shirt and light-colored trousers raises an axe above his head in order to chop a large branch at his feet.
Alfred Sisley
Rue de village à Marlotte (Village Street in Marlotte) ,

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