The Start of the Race of the Riderless Horses, 1820, Oil on canvas, 18 1/8 x 21 1/4 in. (46 x 54 cm), Paintings, Horace Vernet (French, Paris 1789?1863 Paris), Races of riderless horses were a highlight of Rome's Carnival, held each February before Lent. Vernet's painting depicts grooms struggling to restrain the horses before the start of the race-la mossa-in the Piazza del Popolo, which Goethe called 'one of the finest sights that can be seen anywhere in the world