Théodore Géricault

Henry de Triqueti, Paris (by 1867)
Mme Lee Child, Paris (acquired by descent from the above, her father, and sold, her sale, Hôtel Drouot, Paris, May 7, 1886, lot 21)
Paul Adry
Édouard, duc de Trévise, Paris (by 1937)
Pierre-Olivier Dubaut, Paris
Robert Lebel, Paris (by 1953)
Thence by descent to the present owner

Paris, Bernheim-Jeune et Cie., Exposition Géricault, peintre et dessinateur (1791-1824), May 10-29, 1937, no. 3 (as Académie d'homme nu, de face, lent by the duc de Trévise)
Winterthur, Kunstmuseum, Théodore Géricault 1791-1824, August 30 - November 8, 1953, no. 1
Paris, Galerie Claude Aubry, Géricault dans les collections privées françaises, November 6 - December 7, 1964, no. 2 (lent by Robert Lebel)

Charles Clément, "Géricault (premier article)," Gazette des Beaux-Arts, vol. XXIII,  March 1, 1867, p. 221
Charles Clément, "Catalogue de l'oeuvre de Géricault (copies dessin)," Gazette des Beaux-Arts, vol. XXIII, September 1, 1867, p. 275, no. 7 
Charles Clément, Géricault. Étude biographique et critique avec le catalogue raisonné de l'oeuvre du maître, Paris, 1879, p. 35, 279, no. 10
Lorenz E. A. Eitner, "Deux oeuvres inconnues de Géricault au Musée d'Art moderne," Bulletin des Musées royaux des beaux-arts, no. 2, June 1953, p. 56
Charles Clement, Géricault: Étude Biographique et Critique (reprint of 1879 edition with introduction and supplement by Lorenz Eitner), Paris, 1973, p. 47, no. 10
Philippe Grunchec, Tout l'oeuvre peint de Géricault,  Paris, 1978, p. 89, no. 25, illustrated
Lorenz E. A. Eitner, "Tout l'oeuvre peint de Géricault... by Phillippe Grunchec," The Burlington Magazine, vol. CXXII, no. 924, March 1980, p. 209
Germain Bazin, Théodore Géricault. Étude critique, documents et catalogue raisonné, vol. II, Paris, 1987, p. 268, 274, 361, no. 117, illustrated
Philippe Grunchec, Tout l'oeuvre peint de Géricault,  Paris, 1991, p. 89, no. 25, illustrated
Bruno Chenique, Triqueti à l'avant-garde du régiment Géricault. Un tableau inédit de Théodore Géricault, Paris, 2007, p. 7, illustrated fig. 3

The following condition report was kindly provided by Simon Parkes Art Conservation, Inc.: This painting has been restored fairly recently. The restoration is not particularly good and could be reexamined. The thickly painted canvas has been lined using glue as an adhesive. There are areas where the paint layer is slightly abraded, and the texture of the paint is slightly flattened by the lining process. The abrasion to the paint layer is visible in the lower left, in the lower right to a lesser degree, on the left side as it extends towards the upper left corner, and in a few spots in the figure itself. Retouches have been added in a few places; none of them particularly indicative of any significant loss or damage. However, this is an important picture which would benefit greatly if it were cleaned more carefully and retouched more accurately. This is not to say that the condition is not respectable, but the work will certainly improve greatly with the right attention.
"This lot is offered for sale subject to Sotheby's Conditions of Business, which are available on request and printed in Sotheby's sale catalogues. The independent reports contained in this document are provided for prospective bidders' information only and without warranty by Sotheby's or the Seller."

Académie d’homme nu au glaive has remained well-known to scholars for decades and is one of only seven académies listed in the first edition of Charles Clément’s Catalogue de l’oeuvre Géricault. In this 1867 edition, Clément justly describes this work as an “Étude d’atelier d’une grande énergie” (p. 275, no. 7; no. 10 in the 1868 and 1879 editions), an apt description for Géricault’s confident handling of paint and contours of the model’s nuanced musculature, which is emphasized by vivid chiaroscuro. Further, the model gestures with great strength through a pose that is deceptively simple: his weight seems to fall on his back leg as he moves his left foot forward, twisting his body at the waist and extending it with his hands clasped above his head. A red ribbon draped across his muscular chest straps a golden sword to his side, and aside from his leather boots he is otherwise unadorned.

It is difficult to ascribe a precise date to Académie d’homme nu au glaive, although the subject matter and paint handling can be associated with the early period of his training. Gericault aspired to be a great Salon painter and he studied under the rigorous classicist painter, Pierre-Narciss Guérin. His aptitude for painting the figure was clear during his brief passage through Guérin’s studio in 1811, where he stunned his mentor and peers with prodigious use of color and confident brushwork that earned him the nicknames "pastry cook" and "cuisinier de Rubens" (Clément, as quoted in Eitner, p. 92). At this time, Géricault privileged rose hues in his palette and the brushwork is indebted to Peter Paul Rubens, one of his favorite painters and whose influence can be seen in Académie d’homme nu au glaive. However, this académie relates to other works dating from 1814-16, from which almost all of his known academic studies are derived. As Eitner confirms: “In later years, he may occasionally have used Guérin’s studio to paint the model, but it is only during his period of intensive self-training in the latter part of 1815 that he again took up regular life study… Of all the academic studies of the nude that Géricault must have painted in the course of his life, a mere handful survives or have been recognized… They form a homogeneous group and are unlikely to date far apart” (pp. 90-1).  

Géricault's académies are situated in a natural environment and often against active skies at twilight. The rocky landscape seen here is certainly evocative of Scene of Deluge (1815-16, Musée du Louvre), and the figures are comparable to his works from 1814, such as the Farrier’s Signboard (1814, Kunsthaus, Zurich), the Wounded Cuirassier (1814, Musée du Louvre) and the Carabinier (1815, Musée du Louvre) as seen in their dark tonalities and dramatic light. Eitner describes these nudes as “no mere studies of the human body, but exercises in heroic stylization. The execution, for all its extreme vigor, is tensely controlled, as in the corresponding drawings. The paint is firmly and evenly applied, with a sculptural insistence, as if the brush were shaping the substance of the bodies. The strength and individuality of these paintings sharply distinguish them from the general run of academic exercises of their time" (Eitner, p. 91).

This exceptional study demonstrates Géricault’s creativity and the promise of his becoming one of the leaders of the Romantic movement.

Please note that this lot is sold unframed.