A highlight of the Roman carnival was the race of small horses from wild stock—called Barbary after their North African origin—down the mile-long Corso, from the Piazza del Popolo to the Piazza Venezia. Many writers and artists were attracted by the colorful event and sometimes appalled by the cruelty of the populace. Weighted, spiked balls were attached by cords to the horses to spur the animals as they moved.

Vernet was a close associate of Gericault's, and he must have known the many studies the artist made in Rome in 1817 for a painting of the race. Vernet's own composition of 1820 was bought by an influential collector, the duc de Blacas, who was the French ambassador to Rome during Vernet's stay. Long thought lost, Vernet's finished painting has recently been identified in a private collection. The Metropolitan's vivid study was already well known in the mid-nineteenth century: Edgar Degas copied it in the 1850s.

Inscription: Signed (lower right): H. V.

Catharine Lorillard Wolfe, New York (until d. 1887)

Hartford. Wadsworth Atheneum. "The Romantic Circle: French Romantic Painting, Delacroix and his Contemporaries," October 15–November 30, 1952, no. 9 (as "Preparing for the Race").

Bristol Art Museum. August 1–22, 1964, no catalogue?

Paris. Grand Palais. "De David à Delacroix: La peinture française de 1774 à 1830," November 16, 1974–February 3, 1975, no. 186.

Detroit Institute of Arts. "French Painting 1774–1830: The Age of Revolution," March 5–May 4, 1975, no. 186.

New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "French Painting 1774–1830: The Age of Revolution," June 12–September 7, 1975, no. 186.

Chapel Hill. The William Hayes Ackland Memorial Art Center. "French Nineteenth-Century Oil Sketches: David to Degas," March 5–April 16, 1978, no. 61.

New York. Dahesh Museum of Art. "French Artists in Rome: Ingres to Degas, 1803–1873," September 3–November 2, 2003, unnumbered cat.

Charles Sterling, and Margaretta M. Salinger. "XIX Century." French Paintings: A Catalogue of the Collection of The Metropolitan Museum of Art. 2, New York, 1966, pp. 16–17, ill., locate this race along the Via Flaminia, now the Corso, in Rome; state that although this picture is a study for a larger version ("La Mossa," private collection), it has the appearance of a final composition; date the larger version March 1820 and note that in it, the grandstands extend on either side of the horses, the background is more extensive, and portraits of French artists in Rome are recognizable; compare the MMA picture to one of Gericault's studies for his painting of the same subject (Walters Art Museum, Baltimore).

Isabelle Julia in French Painting, 1774–1830: The Age of Revolution. Exh. cat., Grand Palais, Paris. Detroit, 1974, pp. 449, 650–52, no. 186, ill. p. 262 [French ed., "De David à Delacroix: La Peinture française de 1774 à 1830," Paris, 1974, pp. 445, 643–45, no. 186, pl. 167], calls it "Riderless Horse Race" and dates it about 1820; notes that Vernet witnessed the horse race during his first trip to Rome; compares this picture to the paintings on the same theme by Gericault (Musée du Louvre, Paris) and Carle Vernet (Musée Calvet, Avignon).

Carol Phillips in French Nineteenth Century Oil Sketches: David to Degas. Exh. cat., The William Hayes Ackland Memorial Art Center. Chapel Hill, 1978, pp. 126–27, no. 61, pl. 61, describes it as "an attempt to clarify the main motif of grooms and horses" for the final version (private collection); comments that it "has a unity and a sense of concentration lacking in most of Vernet's finished works which tend to break down into an endless series of detailed episodes".

Claire Constans in Horace Vernet (1789–1863). Exh. cat., Accademia di Francia a Roma. Rome, 1980, p. 45, under no. 14, ill. p. 24.

William R. Johnston. The Nineteenth Century Paintings in the Walters Art Gallery. Baltimore, 1982, pp. 40–41.

Laura Hickman Neis. "Ultra-royalism and Romanticism: The Duc de Blacas's Patronage of Ingres, Delacroix, and Horace Vernet." PhD diss., University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1987, pp. 185, 207–8, fig. 6, calls it "La Mossa" and states that this version may have been known to more American artists than French; notes, on the basis of lithographic versions of the final painting, that our sketch "preserves the color scheme".

Important 19th Century European Paintings, Drawings and Watercolors. Sotheby's, New York. February 24, 1987, unpaginated, under no. 12, mention it in the entry for the final version.

Jean-Charles Gateau. "La Canaille. Orbite autour d'un 4 juin 1828 fictif." Recherches & travaux no. 46 (November 1994), pp. 65–67, ill., identifies this picture as the one referred to by Stendhal as "la course des chevaux barbes".

Important 19th Century European Paintings and Sculpture. Sotheby's, New York. October 23, 1997, unpaginated, under no. 48, discuss it under the entry for another oil study of the composition.

Olivier Bonfait and Antoinette Le Normand-Romain. French Artists in Rome: Ingres to Degas, 1803–1873. Exh. cat., Dahesh Museum of Art. New York, 2003, pp. 43, 64, ill. (color), date it about 1820 and call it a sketch for the larger version.

Bruno Chenique in Maestà di Roma, da Napoleone all'unita d'Italia: D'Ingres à Degas, les artistes français à Rome. Exh. cat., Villa Medici, Rome. [Milan], 2003, pp. 103–4 (fig. 9), 246, states that the inclusion of red phrygian caps is not necessarily intended to comport political meaning.

Gary Tinterow in Masterpieces of European Painting, 1800–1920, in The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 2007, pp. 26, 310, no. 24, ill. (color and black and white).

This is a sketch for a larger version of 1820 in a private collection. Another oil study (present location unknown) was sold by Sotheby's, New York, October 23, 1997, lot no. 48. There are lithographs by Peter Wagner, Jazet, and Küstner and a miniature (collection Gaston Delestre, Paris) after the final version.