Théodore Géricault

With Hazlitt, Gooden & Fox, by 2000;
Private Collection, United Kingdom

Lyon, Musée des Beaux-Arts de Lyon, Géricault: La folie d'un monde, 2006, no 38, reproduced

Nineteenth Century French Drawings and some Sculpture, exhib. cat., London, Hazlitt, Gooden & Fox, 2000, no. 11, reproduced

Window mounted. There is an old horizontal crease running along the upper edge of the sheet. There is some slight discoloration to the sheet and minor areas of surface dirt. The four corners have been cut as stated in the catalogue. The pen and ink medium has somewhat sunk into the sheet, although the lines are still predominantly strong throughout. Sold in a giltwood frame.
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.

Dating from the summer of 1817, towards the end of Géricault’s year in Italy, this powerful drawing belongs to series of works on the theme of the slaying of cattle, which was initially inspired by some of the sights Géricault observed first hand in the meat markets of Rome.  These ideas were then gradually transposed by the artist from scenes of contemporary life into an imagined classical antiquity, culminating in the painting of the Cattle Market,¹ now in the collection of the Fogg Art Museum.  The present work fits well into the corpus of known drawings from this period, such as an energetic pen and brown ink sketch of Two Men Killing a Bull, in the Aimé-Azam Collection, Paris.²  The closest, though, to our drawing in terms of composition is another, now only known from a tracing made by the artist Alexandre Colin, when the original work was in his collection.³  In the Colin tracing the bull has its horns tethered with rope as a male figure, on the right hand side of the composition, prepares to deliver the fatal blow.  The pose of this man is virtually identical to that seen here, suggesting that as a compositional device it was something that Géricault found particularly satisfactory.  Indeed, the artist included a very similar figure, though with his arms in an different position, in his painting of Four Youths Holding a Running Horse, dated 1817 and now in the collection of the Musée des Beaux-Arts, Rouen.⁴

¹ W. Whitney, Géricault in Italy, New Haven and London 1997, pp. 84-85, no. 115, reproduced

² Ibid., p. 81, no. 109, reproduced

³ Ibid., no. 108, reproduced

⁴ Ibid., p. 123, no. 161, reproduced