Théodore Géricault

Executed for the sitter, London, 1821;

Thence by inheritance and descent to the present collectors.

G. Bazin, Théodore Géricault, étude critique, documents et catalogue raisonné, Paris 1997, vol. VII, pp. 21-22, reproduced fig. 10.

Géricault executed this fine and striking portrait of Adam Elmore during the artist's second visit to London in 1821, when he resided with the sitter and his wife, Zoë (whose portrait by Géricault is offered in Master Paintings & Sculpture Part I, lot 347). In superb condition, the work boasts an impressive provenance, having remained in the family of the sitter since its inception.

Having paused during a seaside stroll along the Channel, Adam gazes into the distance. His location, indeed, speaks to the circumstances of the portrait's creation: a moment when the French painter was working in an English idiom. The loose, almost spontaneous, handling of paint, indeed, evokes the work of English portraitists including Sir Thomas Lawrence and Sir David Wilkie, whose paintings exerted a profound influence on Géricault during his time in London.

A successful English horse breeder and accomplished equestrian, Adam married Zoë (née Séguin), the daughter of a wealthy French businessman, in 1816. The couple hosted a number of musicians and artists at their London home at 3 John Street, off Edgware Road. In addition to Géricault, Jules-Robert Auguste and Eugène Delacroix (to whom Adam gave riding lessons) stayed with the young couple during the 1820s. How Géricault first made the couple's acquaintance—at the races, through a mutual friend such as Auguste, or via another connection—remains unknown, but the painter and horse-lover stayed with the Elmores for several months at the end of his second London sojourn. Their hospitality enabled Géricault to immerse himself in the English artistic scene and the artist likely produced this portrait as a gift for his friend and benefactor.

We are grateful to M. Philippe Grunchec for having confirmed the authenticity of the work following first-hand inspection.

For more information regarding this lot and the other works by Gericault coming from the Elmore Family, please click on the link below to have access to the full catalogue of the collection:

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