Sketch of a Horse's Hindquarters with one leg raised, and a Study for a Battle Scene

This sheet bears a mark made in imitation of the stamp used by Delacroix's estate for the contents of his studio sold in 1864. Laurence Lhinares connected the stamp with Delacroix's assistant Pierre Andrieu. It was applied by Andrieu's neighbor, the merchant Vuillier, who sold a mix of works by Delacroix and Andrieu, including animal studies likely obtained from Andrieu's estate.
Delacroix explored the movement of horses on sheets of studies in pen and ink. Yet, the study of the bent and awkwardly foreshortened right hind leg at upper left does not suggest its author had the same intuitive understanding of the animal's anatomy. The abbreviated form of the narrative scene inscribed in a box at lower right and drawn with the sheet turned 180 degrees has not been connected to a specific composition.