Racecourse scenes provided an opportunity to depict horses and their riders in a modern context.
The strokes that model the form are scribbled more freely than before; backgrounds are simplified.
The Hébrard Foundry cast the bronzes from 1919 until 1936, and closed down in 1937, shortly before Hébrard's death.
He had admired a portrait Ida she exhibited in the Salon of 1874, and the two formed a friendship.
In July 1856, Degas traveled to , where he would remain for the next three years.
As a promising artist in the conventional mode, Degas had a number of paintings accepted in the Salon between 1865 and 1870.
Degas scholars have agreed that the sculptures were not created as aids to painting, although the artist habitually explored ways of linking graphic art and oil painting, drawing and pastel, sculpture and photography.
Revista de Historia de América 73—74.