La famille Kessler à cheval

The present work is a preparatory sketch for the 1932 oil on canvas work La famille Kessler now in the collection of the Tate in London. This equestrian family portrait depicts Jean Baptiste Auguste Kessler and his wife Anne, along with their five daughters.

The Kessler family were keen horse riders, particularly Anne, in whose obituary Sir Peter Norton-Griffiths described her as ‘small of stature, she always rode side-saddle and was a splendid-looking figure in the field’ (Obituary, The Times, London, 8 April 1983, p. 12). Dufy made the preparatory sketches while staying with the family at Congham House in Norfolk in the summer of 1931, where the Kessler’s were holidaying. The Kessler’s family home was in Oakham in Rutland, and all the horses depicted in the work are their own, brought with them to Norfolk.