Master Paintings

Jean-Louis-André-Théodore Géricault

A rooster, three chickens, and a guinea pig

Auction Closed

May 25, 03:13 PM GMT

Estimate

60,000 - 80,000 USD

Lot Details

Description

Jean-Louis-André-Théodore Géricault

1791 - 1824

A rooster, three chickens, and a guinea pig

oil on paper, laid on canvas

canvas: 25¼ by 21 in..; 64.1 by 53.3 cm.

framed: 33¾ by 29½ in.; 85.7 by 75 cm.

Lord Henry Seymour (1805 - 1859);
His deceased sale, Paris, Hôtel Drouot, 13 - 14 February 1860, lot 93;
Ennemond Blanc;
By whom sold, Paris, Hôtel Drouot, 7 April 1862, lot 26;
With Thiébault-Sisson;
By whom sold, Paris, Hôtel Drouot, 22 November 1907, lot 55;
Dr. L. Voillemot, by 1924;
Col. Offenstadt;
Hans E. Bühler, by 1956;
His collection sale, London, Christie's, 15 November 1985, lot 28;
With Salander O'Reilly, New York;
Anonymous sale, New York, Sotheby's, 25 October 2005, lot 54;
Thereafter acquired by the present owner.

C. Clément, Géricault: Étude Biographique et Critique, 3rd ed., Paris 1879, p. 295, cat. no. 79;
D. Aimé-Azam, Mazeppa: Géricault et son temps, Paris 1956, pp. 113, 341;
P. Dubault and P. Nathan, Géricault 1791 - 1824: Sammlung Hans E. Bühler, Winterthur 1956, cat. no. 25;
L. Eitner, Géricault: An Album of Sketches in the Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago 1969, p. 35;
L. Eitner, Géricault: Étude Biographique et Critique, rev. ed., Paris 1973, p. 452, cat. no. 79;
P. Crunchec, Tout l'oeuvre peint de Géricault, Paris 1978, p. 99, cat. no. 82;
G. Bazin, Théodore Géricault: Étude critique, documents, et catalogue raisonné, Paris 1989, vol. III, pp. 154-55, cat. no. 744.

This intimate sketch of barnyard animals was created in the quiet period of Géricault's career bookended by his stunning Charging Chasseur at the Salon of 1812¹ and his masterpiece, The Raft of the Medusa from 1819.² After 1814, portraits of Napoleon and his cavalrymen fell out of favor, and Géricault made a trip to Italy in 1816, followed by time spent on his uncle's farm near Versailles. He had a love of animal subjects that was nurtured by his study of Michelangelo's horses in Italy, and here he turned his attention to smaller animals and their personalities.

1. https://collections.louvre.fr/en/ark:/53355/cl010059198

2. https://collections.louvre.fr/en/ark:/53355/cl010059199