Pegasus
Artist
Albert Pinkham Ryder
(American, 1847–1917)
Date1883–1887
Mediumoil on panel
Dimensionspanel: 30.5 x 29.8 cm (12 x 11 3/4 in.)
ClassificationsPaintings
Credit LineMuseum purchase
Terms
Object number1919.33
Label TextRyder was a painter of dreams, a visionary whose intimate and poetic art differed from the realism of his contemporaries. After 1900, he ended his artistic pursuits and spent the remainder of his life retouching paintings in his studio. This habit resulted in the buildup of many layers of pigment and glazes in his pictures, which darkened and cracked overtime, as seen in this painting. Completed in 1887 for art critic Charles de Kay, Pegasus references the legend of the white-winged horse being tamed and presented to the Greek hero Bellerophon by Athena, goddess of wisdom. The brown-robed rider sits astride his steed in the company of the Muses at a rocky enclosure. This scene alludes to Ryder’s early period of creative inspiration.
ProvenanceWilliam Macbeth, at Alex Morton Sale, New York NYOn View
On view
