- 104
Théodore Géricault Rouen 1791 - 1824 Paris
Estimate
15,000 - 20,000 USD
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Description
- Théodore Géricault
- gretchen in the dungeon, mourning the dead child at her feet
- inscribed in black ink, lower right: dessin de Géricault donné à Monsieur Clément/par son dévoué Luc Brack
- brown and gray wash over red and black chalk, on buff paper
Provenance
Maurice Gobin, Paris;
sale, London, Sotheby's, 5 May 1965, lot 195, £320 to Kauffman
sale, London, Sotheby's, 5 May 1965, lot 195, £320 to Kauffman
Literature
M. Gobin, Paris 1958, no. 41, reproduced;
G. Bazin, Théodore Géricault: Étude Critique, Documents et Catalogue Raisonné, vol. VII, Paris 1997, pp. 57, 264, cat. no. 2666, reproduced
G. Bazin, Théodore Géricault: Étude Critique, Documents et Catalogue Raisonné, vol. VII, Paris 1997, pp. 57, 264, cat. no. 2666, reproduced
Catalogue Note
In this atmospheric scene, Géricault illustrates the moment in Goethe's Faust when Gretchen, the lover of the eponymous main character, weeps for her illegitimate child whom she has drowned in despair. We see her in a dank prison cell, awaiting the death sentence to which she has been condemned for the murder. Faust and Mephistopheles attempt to rescue her from the dungeon, but her salvation instead comes only when she denounces them, crying "Judgement of God! To thee my soul I give!".
Germain Bazin, in his extensive monograph on Géricault, described this drawing as 'une pièce d'une jolie qualité', which is close to Delacroix in inspiration (G. Bazin, op.cit, p. 57).