Théodore Géricault

With Hazlitt, Gooden and Fox, by 2000;
Private Collection

Nineteenth Century French Drawings and some Sculpture, exhib. cat., London, Hazlitt, Gooden & Fox, 2000, no. 10, reproduced

Window mounted in a double sided-mount. Recto: There is a thin band of discoloration to the four edges of the sheet, most probably as a result of an old mount. There is some barely visible surface dirt and foxing in places and the brown ink from the verso shows through somewhat in places. The medium is in otherwise good condition with the pen and ink and watercolour fresh and vibrant throughout. Verso: Similarly to the recto there is some very minor surface dirt and discoloration to the sheet. This aside the sheet is in otherwise excellent condition with the medium fresh throughout. Sold in a giltwood frame.
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This spectacularly powerful, double-sided sheet can be dated stylistically to circa 1815-1816, a period in which Géricault abandoned his modern military and equestrian subjects of the previous years, in favour of themes inspired by antiquity and the earlier masters.

The monumental and somewhat mysterious recto, portraying a woman carrying pails of water, in a schematic hillside setting, is indicative of Géricault’s indebtedness to the Italian Mannerists of the 16^th Century, with the woman’s somewhat elongated arms and rounded stomach particularly evident features inspired by this earlier period.  Although no specific source for the woman has yet been identified, the work of Raphael, in particular his Stanze in the Vatican, must undoubtedly have influenced the young Frenchman.  Indeed, Géricault is known to have copied other figures from the Stanze, most notably the figure of a Woman Carrying Water¹ found on the right side of Raphael’s fresco of The Fire in the Borgo,² on the south wall of the Stanza dell'incendio del Borgo.  The strong ink work, as well as the tonality of the watercolor used in the present drawing is highly characteristic of Géricault’s work from this period.  Another beautiful example of this type, after a painting by Annibale Carracci, is in a private collection.³

The verso of this fascinating sheet presents a stark and particularly revealing contrast to the The Water Carrier on the recto, demonstrating other, far more contemporaneous artistic influences on Gericault's style.  The image is based on a design portraying The Death of Lucretia (fig. 1) by the French Neoclassical sculptor, Jean Guillaume Moitte (1746-1810), later engraved by Jean François Janinet (1752-1814) in 1795, but Géricault has made his own alterations to the composition, creating a heightened level of drama and interaction between the figures portrayed.  Lucretia, whose head is shown leaning forward in Moitte’s composition, is placed by Géricault in a far more striking pose, sprawled back in her chair having just inflicted the fatal wound upon herself.  Géricault has managed, through his use of wash and prepared paper, to create a far more atmospheric finish to his work than had previously been achieved in Janinet’s engraving, with the viewer’s attention inextricably drawn to Lucretia and the wound to her chest.

Amusingly, closer inspection suggests that the portrayal of The Death of Lucretia was not the first thought that came into the artist’s mind when he approached this side of the sheet, as there are in fact three small pen and ink sketches along the lower edge, featuring two dogs and what appears to be a hen or cockerel in the lower right corner.  Additionally there are some red chalk studies along the upper margin which do not appear to relate to the final drawing, the most substantial of these in the upper left corner.

While it seems that the compositions featured on the two sides of this sheet were both significantly influenced by earlier artistic sources, what is apparent here is Gericault's remarkable ability to absorb these influences, from a variety of periods, and translate them into something totally unique and wholly identifiable as his own. The strength and vibrancy of both the recto and verso of this drawing, with their confident pen work and sculptural application of wash make the present work a superb example of Gericault’s graphic style from this particularly illuminating and creative period of his career.

From a photograph, Philippe Grunchec has kindly confirmed the attribution.

¹ W. Whitney, Géricault in Italy, New Haven and London 1997, p. 39, fig. 34, reproduced

² P. De Vechi, Raphael, New York and London 2002, p. 192, fig. 191, reproduced

³ G. Bazin, Théodore Géricault: étude critique, documents et catalogue raisonné, vol. IV, Paris 1990, pp. 166-167, no. 1275, reproduced