Late 19th Century French Sporting Oil on Panel — Two Jockeys at the Post, Original Giltwood Frame
A finely painted Belle Époque French sporting oil depicting two thoroughbreds with jockeys up, drawn aside on the turf before the start, with the paddock parade and the massed grandstand crowd visible in the middle distance. The bays are rendered with the confident anatomical knowledge of a painter who knew his horses — fine heads, correct conformation, glossy summer coats catching the gray daylight. Poplars frame the left side of the composition; the sky is worked atmospherically in soft grays and pinks; the turf is laid in with quick, sure brushwork.
The painting sits firmly in the tradition of the great French animaliers of the second half of the 19th century — René Princeteau (1844–1914), John Lewis Brown (1829–1890), and Charles Olivier de Penne (1831–1897) — the painters who shaped French turf and sporting art and who counted the young Toulouse-Lautrec among their students. The composition (two horses presented at the rail with the field gathering behind) is the signature subject of the genre and the most desirable format for collectors.
Oil on panel, unsigned. Presented in its original carved giltwood frame with ribbon-twist sight edge, fluted reeded outer molding, and acanthus corner ornaments — the frame the painting almost certainly left the artist’s studio in.
Dimensions
Panel: 11.8 × 20 in
Framed: 18 x 26 in
Origin: France, circa 1880–1900
Condition Notes
Offered in honest, unrestored period condition with the character one would expect of a painting well over a century old:
• A stable horizontal line along the lower edge of the wood panel — original to the panel’s age and structurally sound. Very common in panel paintings of this period.
• Soft surface patina across the sky, including a small area of light tonal variation in the upper right. A gentle professional clean would freshen the overall presentation; we’ve left the piece untouched so the next steward can guide that to their own preferences.
• The original giltwood frame retains its hand-applied water gilding with small losses and minor wear at the corners — exactly the patina collectors look for in a period frame.
• Unsigned, offered as French school, late 19th century, in the tradition of Princeteau, John Lewis Brown, and Olivier de Penne.
Sold as found
