THEODORE GERICAULT
1791-182457 Classical Nudes
r
Classical Statuary
v
Graphite, pen and brown ink, and brown wash; H: 21.3
cm (8^3 /s in.); W: 28.4 cm (ii^3 /i 6 in.)
87.00.97
MARKS AND INSCRIPTIONS: (Recto) numerous graph-
ite inscriptions by the artist; at bottom left, inscribed M.
le maréchal de Palais Bertrand. Le Gouveneurgeneral broyer,
76 in brown ink.
PROVENANCE: Hans E. Bühler, Winterthur (sale, Chris-
tie's, London, November 15, 1985, lot 39); art market,
New York.EXHIBITIONS: Théodore Géricault, Kunstmuseum, Win-
terthur, August-November 1953, no. 124 (catalogue by
P. DubautandG. Jedlicka); Géricault, Grand Palais, Paris,
October I99i-January 1992, no. 7 (catalogue entry by S.
Laveissière).
BIBLIOGRAPHY: P. Dubaut and P. Nathan, Sammlung
Hans E. Bühler: Gericault 1791-1824, Gemdlde, Aquarelle,
Zeichnungen (Winterthur, 1956), nos. 34, 35; L. Eitner,
"Géricault's Dying Paris and the Meaning of His Ro-
mantic Classicism," Master Drawings i, no. i (Spring
1963), pp. 27-29, 31; 34, n. 18; idem, Géricault: His Life
and Work (London, 1983), pp. 80-81, 84; 333, n. 119; G.
Bazin, Théodore Géricault: Etude critique, documents et cata-
logue raisonné, vol. 2: L'oeuvre: Période de Formation (Paris,
1987), vol. 2, pp. 401-2, nos. 234, 235.THIS COMPLEX SHEET IS A CHARACTERISTIC EXAMPLE
of what has been called Géricault's "antique manner."
The recto consists of two michelangelesque nudes drawn
over the remnants of pencil sketches loosely based on
Jean-Antoine Houdon's Ecorché in the Ecole des Beaux-
Arts, Paris (Bazin 1987, pp. 309, 402). The nudes' bold,
muscular forms are defined in broad outline and richly
applied wash, with a resonant tension arising out of the
contrast between linearity and powerfully described vol-
ume. They also possess an expressive power that has
rightly been compared to works by Henry Fuseli.
The verso is more orderly and less inventive, with
two rows of figures based on antique models, including
the Cupid and Psyche in the Pinacoteca Capitolina,
Rome (for the bottom right detail). Here the insistent lin-
earity in describing most of the forms reflects a depen-
dence on line engravings, especially those of John Flax-
man, while other figures show the broad use of wash
found on the recto of the sheet. Here too the pen-and-
wash sketches were drawn over pencil designs, consist-
ing mainly of various head studies. The sheet was dated
by Eitner (1963, 1983) to between March and June 1815
on the basis of the inscription in brown ink on the recto.142 FRENCH SCHOOL • GERICAULT