Title
The divine horses of Achilles, Balios and Xanthos
1963
Artist
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Details
- Other Title
- Antique horses
- Alternative title
- Les chevaux divins d'Achille, Balios et Xanthos Chevaux Antiques au Bord de la Mer Egee
- Date
- 1963
- Media category
- Painting
- Materials used
- oil on canvas
- Dimensions
- 96.5 x 87.0 cm
- Signature & date
Signed and dated l.r., oil "G. de Chirico/... 1963". Signed and dated u.c. verso, ink ".../ Giorgio de Chirico/ ... 25 Dicembre 1963". Signed l.c., oil G. de Chirico".
- Credit
- Purchased 2006
- Location
- South Building, ground level, 20th-century galleries
- Accession number
- 178.2006
- Copyright
- © Estate of Giorgio de Chirico/SIAE. Copyright Agency
- Artist information
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Giorgio de Chirico
Works in the collection
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About
Painting his first self-portrait in 1911, Giorgio de Chirico inscribed in Latin beneath his image in classical guise, ‘And what shall I love if not the enigma’. Throughout his career the artist sought mystery in the mythologies of the classical world and painted the terrains of antiquity that loomed large in European cultural imagination as modern dreamscapes.
De Chirico considered the horse as an enigma. A being that straddled ancient and modern realms, the horse signified both the structural certainties of the classical world and the vitality of mystery. De Chirico continued to paint its forms late in his career. Here the horses of past warriors are riderless, roaming free and presiding over the ruins of antiquity that float away at sea.
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Exhibition history
Shown in 4 exhibitions
De Chirico by de Chirico, New York Cultural Center, New York, 19 Jan 1972–02 Apr 1972
De Chirico by de Chirico, Art Gallery of Ontario, Canada, 16 Jun 1972–16 Jul 1972
De Chirico: néo-baroque, Artcurial Centre d'Art Plastique Contemporain, Paris, Paris, Oct 1985–Dec 1985
De Chirico et ses Consequences Post-Metaphysiques, Artcurial Centre d'Art Plastique Contemporain, Paris, Paris, Mar 1993–May 1993
20th-Century galleries, ground level (rehang), Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 20 Aug 2022–2023
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Bibliography
Referenced in 7 publications
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Artcurial Centre d'Art Plastique Contemporain, Paris, De Chirico: néo-baroque, Paris, 1985. cat.no.30, as 'Chevaux Antiques au Bord de la Mer Egee'
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Claudio Bruni Sakraischik, Catalogo generale Giorgio De Chirico, Milan, 1971, (illus.). 21 volumes
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Giorgio de Chirico, De Chirico by de Chirico, New York, 1972, 70 (illus.). cat.no.36 as 'Antique horses'
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Deutscher-Menzies, Sydney, Australian + international fine art, Sydney, Wednesday, 14 June, 2006, Sydney, 2006, (colour illus.). lot.no.39
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Pere Gimferrer, Giorgio de Chirico, New York, 1989, (colour illus.). cat.no.122
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Wieland Schmied, De Chirico: Leben und Werk, Munich, circa 1980, 262 (colour illus.). cat.no.149
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Imants Tillers, Look, 'Gallery buys a de Chirico', pg.22-24, Sydney, Dec 2006-Jan 2007, 22, 23 (colour illus.).
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Provenance
Isabella de Chirico, Rome/Italy, inscription verso
Artcurial Centre d'Art Plastique Contemporain, Paris, Paris/France, exhibited in 'De Chirico: néo-baroque' 1985 and 'De Chirico et ses Consequences Post-Metaphysiques' 1993 at Artcurial Centre d'Art Plastique Contemporain, Paris
Private Collection, Sydney/New South Wales/Australia
Deutscher-Menzies, Sydney, Sydney/New South Wales/Australia, Purchased by the AGNSW from Deutscher-Menzies 2006. 'Australian and International Fine Art, Melbourne and Sydney', 14 June 2006, lot.no.39