Family of the artist
Acquired by the present owner circa 1992

Chistian Zervos, Pablo Picasso, supplément aux années 1903-1906, Paris, 1970, vol. XXII, no. 265, illustrated pl. 98

Executed on buff-coloured wove paper, not laid down. The sheet is taped to the overmount along the upper edge. There are 3 flattened creases running from the centre of the bottom edge across the sheet, a 11cm. flattened crease running across the upper left quadrant, a 10 cm. one running horizontally through the front legs of the horse, barely visible in the catalogue illustration. There are four 4mm. vertical tears to the bottom edge, two 2mm. horizontal tear to the left edge and a 5mm. horizontal tear to the right edge, not visible when framed. This work is in fair condition. Colours: The sheet is less yellow and there is more contrast in the original.
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In 1904 Picasso moved into a studio in Montmartre in the complex known as the Bateau-Lavoir, where he lived until 1909 amidst an ever-growing circle of friends. Together with his new lover Fernande Olivier, the poets Guillaume Apollinaire and Max Jacob, as well as artist-friends working in the same studios, Picasso frequented the nearby Cirque Medrano, where he made numerous sketches of the clown, acrobats and performers. Fernande Olivier recalled that he "would stay [at the circus] all evening...talking to the clowns...he admired them and had a real sympathy for them" (quoted in T. Reff, "Harlequins, Saltimbanques, Clowns and Fools", in Artforum, October 1971, p. 33).

This work relates to this important series of studies, and depicts an acrobat on horseback. This particular piece is one of the most active of the series. The impression of the speed of the horse is astonishingly recreated, and the movement of the rider seems to mirror that of his mount. These studies on horseback would lead to another series of studies, this time of horses and riders, that served as sketches for a never-completed large-format painting entitled Chevaux aux bains.