Théodore Géricault

Exhibited by Stephen Ongpin Fine Art

Material Watercolour on card

Dimensions 25.4 x 31.4 cm.

Status Vetted

About the Work

Théodore Géricault was, from a very early age, fascinated by horses, and became an accomplished equestrian. As a young student he made drawings of horses at the Imperial stables at Versailles, and many of his most significant works as a mature painter involved equestrian subjects. As the scholar Philippe Grunchec has noted, ‘the life and art of Théodore Géricault are both indissolubly joined under the sign of the horse. Not merely content to observe the animal from every angle, in drawing after drawing and painting after painting, Géricault would in a certain sense dedicate his entire existence to the horse.’

The present sheet may be dated to the artist’s English period. Géricault was in England between April and June of 1820, and again between December 1820 and December 1821. It was during this time that he became particularly interested in scenes of horses at work, which he would have seen throughout London. As Grunchec has written, ‘In England Géricault was fascinated by the tall, mighty horses that always seemed to belong to some ‘shire’ or ‘Irish draught’ breed, a variety then unknown in France.’ The artist made several drawings and watercolours of draught horses at work in London dockyards and wharves; these were made seemingly for his own pleasure or for sale, although a few were later adapted for a series of lithographs.

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