Théodore Géricault

Possibly, Parmentier (commissaire-priseur), Paris, Notice de tableaux, esquisses, dessins, études diverses, estampes, livres à figures, etc., appartenant à la succession de feu Géricault, peintre d'histoire, [...] en la salle vitrée de l'Hôtel de Bullion, rue J.-J. Rousseau, n^o 3, November 3, 1824, part of lot 23 (as Copies faites d'après différents maîtres)
Collection of Charles Binder (by 1867, and sold, his sale, Hôtel Drouot, Paris, February 9, 1892, lot 8)
Collection of Paul Arthur Chéramy (and sold, Galerie Georges Petit, May 5-7, 1908, lot 62)
Renard (acquired at the above sale)
Collection Boisgirard
Georges Wildenstein
H. H. Wolfert, Switzerland (acquired from the above and as of 1954)
Nathan Collection, Zurich
Private Collection

Omaha, Joslyn Memorial Art Museum, The Beginnings of Modern Painting, 1951
New York, Salander-O'Reilly Galleries, Théodore Géricault, April 7-May 23, 1987

Charles Clément, "Catalogue de l'oeuvre de Géricault (copies dessin)," Gazette des Beaux-Arts, vol. XXIII,  October 1, 1867, p. 352, no. 168
Charles Clément, Géricault. Étude biographique et critique avec le catalogue raisonné de l'oeuvre du maître, Paris, 1868, p. 321, no. 176 
Charles Clément, Géricault. Étude biographique et critique avec le catalogue raisonné de l'oeuvre du maître, troisième édition augmentée d'un supplément, Paris, 1879, p. 321, no. 176 
Henry Houssaye, "Une maître de l'école française, Théodore Géricault," Revue des deux Mondes, vol. XXXVI, November 15, 1879, p. 377
Léon Rosenthal, Les Maîtres de l'Art: Géricault, Paris, [1905], p. 22
Georges Oprescu, Géricault, Paris, [1927], p. 24
F. Antal, "Reflections on Classicism and Romanticism - III," The Burlington Magaizine, vol. LXXVVII, no. 450, September 1940, p. 74
Klaus Berger, Géricault et son oeuvre, Paris, 1952, p. 11
Lorenz E. A. Eitner, "The Sale of Géricault's studio in 1824", Gazette des Beaux-Arts, vol. LIII, February, 1959, p. 121, 126
F.-H. Lem, "7. Esthétique de Géricault. D: d'après les maîtres," Le Peintre, no. 260, March 1, 1963, p. 6
Henry Hugault, "Géricault, tragique et passionné," Journal de la'amateur d'art, no. 342, December 25, 1964, p. 8
Charles Clement, Gericault: Étude Biographique et Critique (reprint of 1879 edition with introduction and supplement by Lorenz Eitner), Paris, 1973, p. 458, no. 176
Michel Le Pesant, "Documents inédits sur Géricault," Revue de l'Art, no. 31, 1976, p. 81
Philippe Grunchec,  "L'inventaire posthume de Théodore Géricault (1791-1824)," Bulletin de la Société de l'Histoire de l'art français, 1976-1978, p. 400, 401, 415, note 51, illustratred fig. 9
Philippe Grunchec, Tout l'oeuvre peint de Géricault,  Paris, 1978, pp. 86-7, no. 6b, illustrated
Germain Bazin, Théodore Gericault, Paris, 1987, vol. I, p. 88, 96
Germain Bazin, Théodore Gericault, Paris, 1987, vol. II, p. 296, 431, no. 313, illustrated
Philippe Grunchec, Tout l'oeuvre peint de Géricault,  Paris, 1991, pp. 86-7, no. 6b, illustrated
Sylvain Laveissière, Géricault, exh. cat., Grand Palais, Paris, vol. 1, 1991 - 1992, p. 333

Lined. Minor loss along extreme left edge. Under UV: Heavy varnish is difficult to read through.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

While the influence of Rubens and Michelangelo on Géricault is well documented and often purported, few art historians draw attention to his relationship to Rembrandt. It is seen clearly in Géricault’s fascination with thick impasto and large brushwork, perfectly expressed in the markmaking techniques for aged skin, with its lines and wrinkles, and also for the hair of the present portrait of the Vieillard, based on a work by Rembrandt (Étude de vieillard, Musée du Louvre, now considered Rembrandt and Studio).

Géricault’s early career coincided with Napoleon’s master plan to fill the Louvre with the rich spoils of his military campaigns and negotiated treaties. Great Old Master paintings, likely taken from Italy, Spain, Austria and Flanders, took up residence in the newly inaugurated “Musée Napoléon” in Paris. It was here that Géricault found true inspiration in the works of such artists as Titian, Rubens, Rembrandt and Velasquez. These masters from earlier centuries became Géricault’s new “teachers”; he copied them for a six year period from 1810. As Lorenz Eitner commented, “copying, far from stifling his [Géricault’s] individuality, gave him the courage to indulge a very personal love of heavy pigment and brushwork” (Lorenz Eitner, “Introduction,” Théodore Géricault, exh. cat., Salander O’Reilly Galleries, New York, 1987). In fact, in 1815, when the allies took back their looted pictures after Napoleon’s second abdication, Géricault was one of the French artists who protested in the courtyard of the Louvre as the paintings were hauled away (Eitner, Géricault: His Life and Work, London, 1983, p. 60).These copies, made by the young Géricault after the paintings in the “Musée Napoleon,” revealed an artist who inherently understood the lessons of the Old Masters, but who also had the self-assurance to process these earlier masterpieces and transform them into paintings uniquely his own. This is no more aptly stated than by Lorenz Eitner, who wrote: “Géricault did not disguise his handwriting when testing himself against the Masters” (Eitner, 1983, p. 58). Even in these early copies, the mastery that would come to characterize the greatest paintings of Géricault’s short career is clearly demonstrated.