Théodore Géricault French, 1791-1824

Claude Bernard Gallery Ltd., New York

New York, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Man and the Horse, 1984

Germain Bazin, Théodore Géricault. Etude critique, documents et catalogue raisonné, Paris, 1989, vol. III, discussed p. 16, catalogued pp. 110-111, no. 613 (erroneously illustrated under no. 612)

The canvas has been relined. There is a small speck of retouching to the left of the horse's hind leg and another towards the upper left corner. There are some small spots of paint loss otherwise the paint surface is in good overall condition. Held in a decorative ebonised frame.
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This work belongs to the series of early horse portraits Géricault painted in 1810-12. Building on his training in the studio of Carle Vernet, he honed his skills as an equine painter through extensive first-hand observation of horses of all kinds and breeds, at Courbevoie barracks, at his uncle's estate at Grand-Chesnay near Versailles, and at the riding school set up in the old royal stables at Versailles itself.