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| Théodore Géricault c1822-23 by Horace Vernet |
Jean-Louis-André-Théodore Géricault is now identified as a pioneer of Romanticism in French painting. He loved horses, and dramatic images of rearing horses feature in his work. He was born at Rouen, and from 1808 trained in Paris with Carle Vernet. But after two years he left Vernet - saying 'One of my horses would have devoured six of his' - to go to the Neo-classican painter Pierre Guérin, with whom his friend Delacroix later studied.
Géricault was influenced by the military subjects of Baron Gros and by works in the Louvre, notably those by Rubens and Renaissance Venetian painters. A visit to Italy in 1816-7 intensified Géricault's appreciation of Michelangelo. On his return to Paris he painted his most famous work, 'The Raft of the Medusa' (Paris, The Louvre), a scene of modern drama on a vast scale and executed in the heroic manner, which he exhibited at the Salon of 1819.
An admirer of English art, like Delacroix, he visited England in 1820-1, returning in a state of poor health. From his last years date an exceptional series of portraits, commissioned by a friend, of the inmates of a lunatic asylum.
This is part 1 of a 7-part series on the works of Théodore Géricault:
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| 1791-1824 Charioteer and Horseman graphite on light grey paper 20.3 x 29.2 cm Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York |
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| 1800-24 Modèle lithograph 21.4 x 27.6 cm (sheet, cropped in here) Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York |
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| 1800-25 Free horse racing in Rome 1800 oil on paper, glued on canvas 45 x 60 cm Louvre, Paris |
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| 1800-25 Flood scene oil on canvas 97 x 103 cm Louvre, Paris |
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| 1800-25 Bulldog's head oil on paper glued on canvas 24 x 26.5 cm Louvre, Paris |
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| 1800-25 Alexandre Colin oil on paper glued on canvas 41 x 32.5 cm Louvre, Paris |
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| 1800-25 A rifleman, seen from the waist up oil on canvas 101 x 85 cm Louvre, Paris |
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| 1800-25 Lions lying down oil on canvas 46 x 56.2 cm Louvre, Paris |
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| 1800-25 Horse racing going left at the start oil on paper glued on canvas 27 x 41 cm Louvre, Paris |
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| 1800-25 Horse attacked by a lion oil on canvas 54 x 73 cm Louvre, Paris |
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| 1800-25 Grey horse at the rack oil on paper glued on canvas 26 x 34 cm Louvre, Paris |
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| 1800-25 The guillotined oil on canvas glued on cardboard 45.5 x 37.5 cm Louvre, Paris |
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| 1800-25 Skinned horse plaster h:24.7 x w:26.5 x d:95 cm Louvre, Paris |
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| 1800-25 Race of mounted horses oil on paper glued on canvas 27 x 38 cm Louvre, Paris |
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| 1800-25 Portrait of a man, called the Vendéen oil on canvas 81 x 64.5 cm Louvre, Paris |
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| 1800-25 Wounded cuirassier oil on paper glued on canvas 46 x 38 cm Louvre, Paris |
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| 1800-25 Two post horses at the door of a stable oil on canvas 38 x 46 cm Louvre, Paris |
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| 1800-25 The Storm or The Wreck oil on canvas 19 x 30.5 cm Louvre, Paris |
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| 1808? Soldier Mounting a Horse (attributed to Gericault) black chalk on paper 22.6 x 29.1 cm Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York |
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| 1808-12 Scene of the Plague black chalk with white watercolour and black wash on brown paper 29.8 x 49 cm Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA |
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| 1808-12 Ancient chariot (medium not given) 63 x 79 cm Louvre, Paris |
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| 1810-13 Turkish horse in a stable oil on paper glued on canvas 35 x 25 cm Louvre, Paris |
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| 1810-13 Spanish horse in a stable oil on canvas50 x 61 cm Louvre, Paris |
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| 1810-15 Diana the Huntress, after the so-called Diana of Versailles black stone or graphite, watercolour or oil paint 28.6 x 21.4 cm Louvre, Paris |
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| 1812 Officer of the Mounted Hunters of the Imperial Guard, charging oil on canvas 349 x 266 cm Louvre Museum, Paris |
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| 1812 Officer of the mounted chasseurs of the Imperial Guard charging oil on paper glued on canvas 53 x 79 cm Louvre, Paris |
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| 1813-14 A Horse frightened by Lightning oil on canvas 48.9 x 60.3 cm The National Gallery, London |
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| 1812-14 Studies of lion, compositional group figure study, two caricature head studies graphite on paper 15.2 x 10.6 cm The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles |
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| 1812-14 Seated lion, head of lioness graphite on paper 10.6 x 15.2 cm The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles |
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| 1812-14 Equestrian portrait of Jérôme Bonaparte, after Antoine-Jean Gros oil on canvas 48 x 38 cm Louvre, Paris |
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| 1813-14 Sketches of a Horse graphite, on cream wove paper 17.2 x 23.1 cm Art Institute of Chicago, IL |
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| 1813-14 Sheet of Sketches: Riders, Mermaids and Two Portraits of Young Men graphite on tan wove paper, perimeter mounted on ivory laid paper 17 x 22.9 cm Art Institute of Chicago, IL |
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| 1813-14 Sheet of Sketches: Lancers, Struggling Nudes, other Subjects pen and iron gall ink with black crayon, on tan wove paper 17.4 x 23 cm Art Institute of Chicago, IL |
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| 1813-14 Mounted Trumpeters of Napoleon's Imperial Guard oil on canvas 60.4 x 49.6 cm National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC |
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| 1813-14 Five Sketches for a Cavalry Battle pen and brown ink with brush and brown wash, over graphite cream wove paper 17.2 x 22.8 cm Art Institute of Chicago, IL |
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| 1813-14 Studies graphite on cream wove paper 17.4 x 23.2 cm Art Institute of Chicago, IL |
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| 1813-14 Sketches of Men’s Faces, Horses’ Muzzles, and Mounted Soldiers graphite and black crayon with pen and brown ink on tan wove paper 17.4 x 23 cm Art Institute of Chicago, IL |
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| 1813-14 Sketches of Heads graphite, on tan wove paper, perimeter mounted on ivory laid paper 17.3 x 23 cm Art Institute of Chicago, IL |
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| 1813-14 Sketches of Decorative Landscape and Animal Compositions graphite on cream wove paper, perimeter mounted on ivory laid paper 17.3 x 23 cm Art Institute of Chicago, IL |
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| 1813-14 Sketches of a Wooded Site, Dogs and Pheasants in Landscape graphite with brush and brown wash, on cream wove paper 17.3 x 23 cm Art Institute of Chicago, IL |
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| 1814 Stableboy Grooming a Horse graphite with brush and brown wash, on ivory laid paper 27.5 x 21.1 cm Art Institute of Chicago, IL |
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| 1814 study for Wounded Cuirassier leaving the fire oil on panel 38.2 x 32.1 cm Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA |
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| 1814 Wounded cuirassier leaving the fire oil on canvas 358 x 294 cm Louvre, Paris |
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| 1814-15 White horse head oil on canvas 65.5 x 82.2 cm Louvre, Paris |
