Study of a horse and a sitting caddy.

Drawing, graphite pencil, 15,8 x 25,5 cm, paper (no watermark), monogrammed HTL.

Stuck by corners under passe-partout.

A sketch of a carthorse with a horse collar and a seated horse driver with a hat and whip. Horses were a favourite subject of the painter and he had drawn them throughout his artistic career. The drawing is a well-executed sketch which stylistically relates to the period between 1879 and 1882, prior to Toulouse-Lautrec's move to Paris. In particular the rendering of shades and hatching in the neck and legs of the horse are strikingly similar to drawings made by Toulouse-Lautrec around 1880, such as a drawing in the British Museum (inv. 1924,0617.36), representing a similar carthorse. Other contemporary horse studies (D.I.635 and D.I.373) are also comparable in their rendering of hooves, linear contours and the idiosyncratic hatching. In addition, the rendering of seated figure on the right side of the sheet, drafted with a few angular lines, shows similarities to figure sketches made by Lautrec around the same period (e.g. D.2.742). A detailed analysis and condition report is available on request.
Ref. M.G. Dortu, "Toulouse- Lautrec et son oeuvre", New York 1972, vols. 4-6.