Realism

Provenance

Sale, hôtel Drouot, Paris, 15 April 1876, lot 25

Émile Girardin, Paris (his sale: his home, 27 rue La Pérouse, Paris, 24-28 May 1883, lot 10)

Simon Lévy, Paris (acquired from the above)

Sale, Morand et Morand, Paris, hôtel Drouot, 24 June 2013, lot 64

Literature

Charles Léger, Courbet, coll. Les Maîtres, Paris, Braun et cie éditeurs, 1938, ill. pl. 31.

Les amis de Gustave Courbet, no. 31, 1964, p. 12-13, ill.

Robert Fernier, La vie et l’œuvre de Gustave Courbet : catalogue raisonné, Paris, Lausanne, Fondation Wildenstein, La Bibliothèque des arts, 1977, t.1, no 157, p. 96.

Pierre Courthion, Tout l’œuvre peint de Courbet, Paris, Flammarion, 1987, no. 157, p.81, ill.

Petra ten-Doesschate Chu, ed., The Letters of Gustave Courbet, Chicago, 1992, p. 160, letter 58-2

We are grateful to the Comité Gustave Courbet for having confirmed the authenticity of the work after first-hand inspection on January 24, 2026. The painting will be included in the forthcoming catalogue raisonné of the artist.

Catalogue note

On July 3, 1845, the Hippodrome de l’Étoile -the first Parisian hippodrome dedicated to spectacular performances -opened its doors on land that would later become Avenue Victor Hugo.  With seating for 12,000 spectators, for ten years the Hippodrome hosted a dazzling display of events, notably historical reenactments of carousels, ladies’ races, bullfights and balloon ascents.  This popular venue was sadly short-lived; in 1854 the redevelopment of the Place de l’Étoile resulted in the closure of the Hippodrome and it was demolished in 1855.

The appearance of the Hippodrome has been known primarily through engravings, but our painting by Courbet provides a rare painted image.  We can identify the oval shape of the arena, which was built like an amphitheater, as well as part of the covered gallery reserved for spectators and the main gate in the Moorish style.  The Arc de Triomphe features prominently behind the trees.  As the spectacle, Courbet has chosen to depict a bull fighting scene. Five matadors and a toreador on horseback enact the lively choreography of the corrida. In a letter to Armand Gautier in 1858, Courbet asks Gautier to send him “that sketch of the hippodrome with the bullfight.  There is here a man from Brazil who bought it from me and who would like to have it right away.” (Petra ten-Dopesschate Chu, p. 160). 

It is interesting to compare Courbet’s Bull fighting scene to Manet’s Combat de Taureaux painted ten years later (fig. 1).  There is no denying the similarities in composition, setting and palette. Perhaps just a coincidence, but perhaps a subject worthy of further contemplation.