Public collection via the Cleveland Museum of Art
AT-00010994Sheet of Sketches (recto and verso)
About the Artwork
The inscription at the upper left of the sheet states that Géricault executed these studies at the spring of the Magdelaine, near the forest of Fontainebleau, which he visited in 1819. The male figures closely resemble the earlier studies he made while in Italy of peasants during horse races at annual Roman carnivals. Here, men struggle to keep control of their unseen animals during the moments before the race. The verso female figures, visible though the paper, derive directly from Pompeiian paintings of bacchanals, or revelers participating in festivals honoring Bacchus, the god of wine.
Inscriptions
inscribed, in brown ink, at upper left: dessin de gericault fait à fontain la magdelaine; watermark, at center: scallop shell (possibly J. Berger or J. Bouchet)
Provenance
?-?: Possibly Pierre-Olivier Dubaut [1886–1968], Paris by 1948-before 1963: Private collection, Paris by 1963: (Galerie Marcel Guiot, Paris) 1963-1964: (Walter Goetz, Paris, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH) 1964-: Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
Exhibition history
Year in Review (1964). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (December 8, 1964-January 31, 1965). The Vocabulary of Prints. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (July 29-December 31, 1975). Directions in Drawing II: The Human Figure. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (November 5, 1991-January 12, 1992). French Drawings from the Collection. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (December 13, 1994-March 12, 1995). Stories from Storage. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (February 7-May 16, 2021).
Data retrieved from the Cleveland Museum of Art on October 8, 2026. The museum may have updated its record since.
Quick Overview
- Artist
- Théodore Géricault (French, 1791–1824)
- Date
- 1819
- Medium
- pen and brown ink on ivory laid paper
- Dimensions
- Sheet: 22.8 x 35 cm (9 x 13 3/4 in.)
- Type
- Drawing
- Classification
- Drawing
- Department
- Drawings
- Credit line
- Dudley P. Allen Fund
- Accession no.
- 1964.28
More by Théodore Géricault in museum collections
Open-access museum record · AT-00010994
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