Scene from the Steeplechase: The Fallen Jockey by Degas in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, December 2023

Title: Scene from the Steeplechase: The Fallen Jockey

Artist: Edgar Degas (French, Paris 1834–1917 Paris)

Date: 1866, reworked 1880–81 and ca. 1897

Geography: Country of Origin France

Culture: French

Medium: Oil on canvas

Dimensions: 70 7/8 × 59 13/16 in. (180 × 152 cm)
Framed: 79 3/4 × 68 3/8 × 2 5/8 in., 77 lb. (202.6 × 173.7 × 6.7 cm, 34.9 kg)

Classification: Paintings

Credit Line: National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon (1999.79.10)

Degas exhibited this painting in the Salon of 1866, marking his first presentation at the prestigious venue of a subject drawn from modern life. The steeplechase was a dangerous cross-country race that gained in popularity during the 1860s. In depicting a dramatic, potentially tragic, moment from a contemporary sport, Degas certainly drew inspiration from Manet’s Episode from a Bullfight, which he had seen at the Salon two years earlier; even the generic formula of the title is similar

Text from: www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/844786