Edgar Degas

Ernst Heldring, Amsterdam (acquired on January 19, 1926)

Acquired by descent from the above

John Rewald, Degas: Works in Sculpture, New York, 1944, no. XIII, illustrations of another cast pls. 48-51

John Rewald & Leonard Von Matt, L'Oeuvre sculpté de Degas, Paris, 1957, no. XIII, illustrations of another cast pls. 15-19

Degas' Racing World (exhibition catalogue), New York, 1968, no 121, illustaration of another cast

Sara Campbell, "Degas's Bronzes," Apollo, London, August 1995, no. 4, illustration of another cast

Joseph S. Czestochowski & Anne Pingeot, Degas Sculptures, Catalogue Raisonné of the Bronzes, Milan, 2002, no. 4, referenced p. 129

Sara Campbell, Richard Kendall, Daphne Barbour & Shelley Sturman, Degas in the Norton Simon Museum, Nineteenth-Century Art, Volume II, Pasadena, 2009, no. 4, referenced p. 506

Excellent condition. Dark brown patina.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

Widely regarded as Degas' most expressive rendering of a race horse, Cheval se cabrant is an exceptionally crisp cast of the original wax model created in the 1880s.  While it is unclear whether Degas based his modeling of the horse on Eadweard Muybridge's innovative series of photographs of the galloping horse, we know that the sculptor was fascinated by this most expressive stance and rendered it in two versions: no. 65 and this example, no. 4.  The present cast, which can be traced back to 1926, is one of the earliest known casts from the edition.

The present cast of Cheval se cabrant is marked with the foundry's inventory number 4 and with the series letter N.  After the artist's death in 1917, his heirs authorized the A.A. Hébrard foundry to cast Degas' 73 original wax models into bronze mutiples.  According to their initial agreement, Hébrard proposed to make 22 bronze casts of each figure: one set for Degas's heirs, marked HER;  one for the foundry marked HER.D; and twenty sets for sale, marked with the letters A-T.  Each bronze is thus numbered alpha-numerically, indicating both the foundry's inventory number and the series to which it belongs.  In response to demand, sometimes Hébrard never completed a full set of a given letter series, or produced more examples than were originally specified in the contract, resulting in many variations in the edition sizes for each figure.  Cheval se cabrant, being one of the most popular of the bronze figurines, was cast in a complete letter series, along two examples marked HER, one marked HER.D and one marked AP, the initials of the Hébrard founder. 

The first owner of this bronze was Ernst Heldring, president of the largest bank in Holland, who purchased the work in 1926.  During the Second World War, Heldring's youngest son Frederick worked for a resistance organization in Amsterdam that helped hide Jews with safe families, and he later became chief of an Allied spy operation that reported on the activities of the occupying German troops.  Frederick Heldring later relocated to the United States, where he worked as President and later as Chairman for the Philadelphia National Bank.  The Heldrings have kept this bronze in their private collection in Amsterdam and later in Pennsylvania for nearly 90 years.