Signed and inscribed (verso): L.D.Luard/69 Boulevard Arago/Paris XIII ieme and bearing further labels (to the reverse of the stretcher)

Charcoal and pastel, 76 by 178 cm (30 by 70 ins)

Timberhauling on the Seine, perhaps Luard’s most powerful composition to portray the dynamism and power of Percheron at work was executed in three versions, culminating in a large painting that was exhibited at Galeries Georges Petit in 1911, the Paris Salon in 1913 and the Royal Academy in London in 1914. The present pastel (the first of these) is of near identical size to the final painting and is at least its equal in immediacy and visceral power.