315 x 329 cm (124 x 129 1/2 in.)
Oil on canvas

Inscriptions: Lower left: H. Regnault / Rome. / 1868

Classification: Paintings
Type, sub-type: Mythological; Nude; Animal; Oversize

On view in the: Leona R. Beal Gallery (European Art 1800–1870)

Regnault's painting illustrates a story from Homer's Iliad. Automedon, chariot driver for the Greek warrior Achilles, restrains the horses Xanthos (behind) and Balios, two beasts who could predict the future. As Regnault wrote, "the horses, aware that their master [Achilles] is taking them into combat, and that this combat will be the last and will cost him his life, struggle and wrest with the groom who has come to take them from their pasture. One of them, chestnut brown, rises like a great dark phantom, outlining himself against the sky. I wanted to give the picture a foretaste of disaster."

Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

Museum purchase with funds donated by contribution, 1890
Accession number: 90.152

Provenance/Ownership History: Please note: The history of ownership is not definitive or comprehensive, as it is under constant review and revision by MFA curators and researchers.

By 1872, acquired in France by Levi Parsons Morton (b. 1824 - d. 1920), New York [see note 1]; March 1, 1882, Morton sale, George A. Leavitt and Co., New York, lot 157, to Samuel A. Coale, St. Louis, MO [see note 2]; 1890, sold by Coale to the MFA for $1000. (Accession Date: June 17, 1890)

NOTES:
[1] The painting was executed in Rome in 1867/1868 and sent by the artist to Paris. Notes in the curatorial file indicate that Morton acquired it in France, where he served as U.S. Minister, though how and when is not known. It was first published as being in his possession by Henri Cazalès, "Henri Regnault: sa vie et son oeuvre" (Paris, 1872), p. 141. [2] In 1883, Coale exhibited the painting at William and Everett Gallery, Boston. It was on loan to the MFA from 1884 until 1890, during which time funds were raised for its purchase. See Walter Muir Whitehill, "Museum of Fine Arts Boston: A Centennial History" (Cambridge, MA, 1970), vol. 1, pp. 78–81.

This object is included in the following Selected Tour(s):

• All European Paintings
• French Paintings
• Highlights of European Paintings
• Director's Choice Audio Tour
• MFA Images: Animals
• MFA Images: Nudes
• Art with a Past
• Horses