Théodore Géricault

Sale, Paris, Etude De Nicolay, 4 April 2001, lot 19

W. Whitney, Géricault in Italy, New Haven and London 1997, pp. 48-9, reproduced, fig. 52 (as Present whereabouts unknown)

Hinge mounted. There is an old repaired tear to the lower left corner. There is some slight discolouration to the four edges of the sheet and evidence of light surface dirt throughout. The medium itself is still strong throughout. Sold in a modern, stained wood frame.
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NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

This is one of three known drawings by Géricault depicting horses and circus performers, the others being in the Musée des Beaux-Arts, Algiers,¹ and recorded in a tracing in the Bibliothèque Nationale.²  All seem to be spontaneous sketches from life and are dated by Wheelock Whitney to the year Géricault spent in Italy, from 1816-17.  His main project during his time in Rome was his attempt at a monumental painting of the annual Race of the Barberi Horses down the via del Corso during the pre-Lenten carnival, for which he made numerous studies.  As Whitney observes, this drawing has stylistic connections with studies for the Race, while the study at upper right of a man restraining a horse appears also to be related thematically.

1. Whitney, op. cit., p. 48, reproduced, fig. 51 
2. Paris, Bibliothèque Nationale, inv. no. B75809