Degas had a respect for horses that grew throughout his career as an artist. He revered the horse as a legendary and powerful creature, and he depicted it as such in his paintings and his sculptures. But why did he do so? Where did this reverence for the horse as legend come from? If we analyze the influences present in Degas’ early career as an artist, it is clear that it was his initial studies that lead him to hold the animal in such high esteem.
The eldest son of a Parisian banking family, Degas initially did not intend to be a painter, as he favored law. After deciding to become an artist, he began studying Italian Renaissance Art and he entered the studio of Louis Lamothe. These early years are when Degas acquired his reverence for the horse as a creature of antiquity and therefore as a creature of legend. Degas’ first experiments drawing horses were made at the Ecole des Beaux Arts in Paris, where he sketched horses from plaster casts from the Parthenon (Boggs, 16). Later notebooks, like those from his studies with Lamothe, focus in on a cavalryman “reining in” a spirited horse (Boggs, 18). These Lamothe studies prove to be especially relevant, as they demonstrate that very early his studies of horses reflect not only an awareness of the relationship between horse and jockey but also a focus on the difficulty of jockey control.
In a later, larger notebook, Degas depicted a horse being attended to by a young boy in a work entitled Sheets of Studies, 1855-1866. Boggs states that in this sketch of the plaster cast of the west frieze at the Parthenon, Degas depicts the horse as “self contained and self assured” (qtd. Boggs, 19). As Boggs herself suggests, this early study depicts the horse as confident, even “self assured”. What is important to recognize is that this was in fact a study of antiquity and not an original work by Degas. Keeping that in mind, it is clear exactly where Degas developed his reverence for the horse as a “self assured” and autonomous creature: from his studies of antiquity. The Greeks held the horse in high esteem, as is evidenced by the boy’s meticulous tending to the horse in the Parthenon frieze. By studying and sketching this frieze and others like it, Degas adopted the ancient philosophy of respect that was inherent in it. This respect is demonstrated in an early sonnet Degas wrote about the horse, where he says, “You can hear his coming…His breath strong and sound…The brave colt, galloping, cuts through the dew…Precocious, impervious to ceaseless work” (qtd. Degas, Boggs, 148). As Degas flowing praise suggests, he clearly held the horse in very high esteem, a belief he developed in his early studies of antiquity.
In 1856 Degas moved to Rome, where he studied at the French Academy at the Villa Medici (Boggs, 19). There he was free to study whatever he chose, and horses started to appear more frequently in his works (Boggs, 19). One of Degas’ last history paintings, Semiramis Building a City, 1860-1862, depicts a queen looking over the start of her new city. Boggs notes that, “although Semiramis assumes her queenly place with her courtiers as she surveys Babylon in the final painting, she is essentially balanced by the protective that stands with such dignity behind her” (qtd. Boggs, 30). As Boggs notes, the horse is just as prominent, if not more so, than the queen. In analyzing an earlier study done of the horse in the painting the influence from the Parthenon studies is readily apparent. Moreover, it is evident that Degas intended this importance to be so. In the sketch, called Study of a Horse and Group of Attendants, 1860-1863, the horse is in a position of prominence in the center of the composition. 
It stands proud, tall and noble, reflecting both strength and grace to the viewer. Moreover, it is being attended to by two women, just as the horse in Degas’ studies of the Parthenon frieze, Sheets of Studies, was being attended to by the young boys. Degas developed his reverence for the horse because of the early studies that he did of antiquity, where the horse was often depicted in a position of prominence. This acquired reverence is evident in the studies that Degas made for Semiramis Building a City and in the painting itself, where he depicts the horse in the exact same way it was rendered at the Parthenon.
Images(from top to bottom):
Degas, copy after a plaster cast of the north frieze, Parthenon, 1855. Bibliotheque Nationale, Paris.
Degas, Sheet of Studies, 1855-1856. Musee de Louvre, Fonds du Musee D’Orsay, Paris.
Degas, Semiramis Building a City, 1860-1862. Musee D’Orsay, Paris.
Degas, Study of a Horse and Group of Attendants, 1860-1863. Musee du Louvre, Fonds du Musee D’Orsay, Paris.
Plaster Cast from the west frieze, Parthenon.