The Monkey Jockeys, French School, 19th Century Oil On Canvas

The Monkey Jockeys, French School, 19th Century Oil on Canvas

Description:

A lively and witty animal scene depicting two monkeys dressed as jockeys — one in a dark jacket, the other in a pink racing coat with a cap and riding crop in hand — clearing a wooden fence together, each mounted on a hound at full gallop. The painter captures the suspended instant of the jump with genuine skill, mouths open and noses stretched forward, in a diagonal composition that heightens the sense of speed. A gently sketched countryside, rendered in broad passages of clouded sky and bluish hills, provides a quiet backdrop for this fantasy.

The painting belongs to the tradition of "singerie" painting, a genre born in the 18th century and especially popular in England and France during the following century, in which animals dressed as humans gently satirize contemporary manners and pastimes — here, the passion for the turf and horse racing, then in full expansion. Treated with humor rather than crudeness, the subject reflects the period's taste for sporting and satirical scenes intended for smoking rooms and billiard rooms.

Technique:

Oil on canvas. Gilded wood and stucco frame, molded.

Dimensions:

Without frame: Height 11 13/16 in (30 cm), Width 15 3/8 in (39 cm)

With frame: Height 15 3/4 in (40 cm), Width 19 1/4 in (49 cm)

Condition:

Overall good condition, in its original gilded wood frame.