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581 - Carle VERNET (1758–1836)
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Estimate €4,000 - €6,000
Sale commission
Description
Carle VERNET (1758–1836) A young horseman holding the reins of his bay horse in a stable yard. Oil on canvas, signed towards the centre on the right and dated ‘179[...]’ Height: 50 cm Length: 61 cm Note: Known for having been an excellent horseman in his youth, “elegant, with fine legs, [and] a handsome figure”, Carle Vernet is probably the French painter to whom we owe the recognition of the horse as a subject in its own right within French art. According to his biographer Charles Blanc: “Carle Vernet was the first to take the trouble to visit the stud farm or the riding school; he restored to the horse its lively gaits, its expectant expression, its grace, its coquettishness, the sparkle in its eyes and its flaring nostrils”. It was said of him that, upon arriving in Rome, “he began, like everyone else, to contemplate Raphael’s frescoes and the paintings of Jules Romain or Salvator; but this was chiefly to see how these masters had painted horses.” Moreover, in his 1789 inaugural piece *Le Triomphe de Paul Emile*, the impetuous figures of the horses in the triumphant procession constitute one of the showpieces of this monumental composition (129.9 x 438.2 cm, New York, The Metropolitan Museum, inv. 06.144). Having passionately documented, in turn, the rituals of the stables, the exercises of the Franconi equestrian circus, the vicissitudes of court hunts, the excitement of the races, and the clamour of cavalry charges, Vernet produces in this painting a remarkable double portrait, accordinging as much – if not more – importance to the horse as to its master. As such, our previously unpublished painting stands as a remarkable testament to the burgeoning passion for horses that was about to transform 19th-century high society.
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About the sale PRESTIGE - CLASSICAL CENTURIES - VAYRES CASTLE
Auction location
Auction time 10/18/2026 at 2:00 PM
Pictures credits: Contact the Auction House
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