The Acquisitions Table: Atalanta

Bargue, Charles after Alfred de Dreux, Atalanta, Paris, Berlin, New York: Goupil and Knoedler, 1860.

Another beautiful example of transatlantic lithographic printing from France, this image of the horse Atalanta from a series of prints of driving and saddle horses was the bicentennial gift of AAS member George Fox.  Named for a Greek goddess of hunting, the print shows a well-proportioned bay-colored hunter standing near a wall with a stable boy and small dog.  While the boy and the dog are oblivious to the viewer, the horse turns her fine head and looks out at us.  Many of the prints in the set were drawn by the lithographer Charles Bargue after well-known French animal painter Alfred de Dreux.  The prints were also sold individually by Goupil in their shops in France, Germany and New York, and would have appealed to any lover of horses. Bicentennial gift of George K. Fox.

Published by

Lauren Hewes

Andrew W. Mellon Curator of Graphic Arts, American Antiquarian Society

2 thoughts on “The Acquisitions Table: Atalanta”

  1. Atalanta was not the Greek goddess of hunting, that was Artemis. Atalanta was a mortal woman who was a virginal huntress who eventually married Hippomenes when she lost a race to him because he distracted her with golden apples.

    1. Thank you for this clarification. The horse in the image was used as a hunter, so the name of Atalanta seems quite appropriate. I can not say whether the mare was virginal or not, but certainly she was a beautiful mortal creature!

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