Cheval alezan de face. Étude.

This 1849 horse study (Cheval alezan de face) at the Louvre belongs to the preparatory works Chassériau produced for his North African compositions. Horses were essential subjects for Orientalist painters depicting cavalry encounters and Arab equestrian culture. Chassériau's oil technique combined Ingres's sculptural clarity of contour with Delacroix's warm Venetian colorism, creating works of unusual poetic power that influenced Gustave Moreau and later Symbolist painting.

The chestnut horse is rendered with careful anatomical observation, Chassériau's precise drawing capturing the animal's conformation and coloring with the accuracy required for his larger equestrian compositions.