'Horse Attacked by Tiger' — 19th-Century French Romanticism
c. 1820

About the Item

Théodore Géricault (after), 'Tigre dévorant un cheval' (Tiger Devouring a Horse), lithograph, 3rd state of 3, Clement 97, c. 1820. Lettered 'Volmar d'après Géricault', lower left—this work rendered by Joseph Simon Volmar after a drawing by Gericault. A fine, richly-inked impression, on off-white wove paper, with wide margins (2 1/4 to 3 1/2 inches), in very good condition. Image size 6 1/4 x 8 11/16 inches (159 x 221 mm); sheet size 11 3/8 x 15 3/4 inches (289 x 400 mm). Matted to museum standards, unframed. ABOUT THE ARTIST Géricault's fiery, audacious personality and short life fit the mold of Romantic artists of his era and, along with his controversial paintings, profoundly influenced nineteenth-century art. Notwithstanding about three years of studio training, Géricault was largely self-taught. He copied paintings in the Louvre and traveled to Rome, where he discovered Michelangelo's works and the exuberance of Baroque art. In his enormous 'Raft of the Medusa,' now at the Louvre, Géricault fused Realism and Romanticism, elevating a current event—a shipwreck with few survivors—to the status of monumental art. To achieve authenticity, he used a model of the raft and carefully studied real cadavers—even his friend, Eugène Delacroix, posed for one of the figures. The wreck was attributed to governmental negligence and corruption and the resulting controversy, combined with the painting's veracity, brought Géricault widespread attention. Géricault was also a master of lithography, the sole printmaking medium he employed to produce his breathtaking representations of horses and military subjects, two of his lifelong passions. During his English sojourn of 1820-21, Géricault improved his knowledge of the lithographic technique in the London workshop of Charles Joseph Hullmandel. The most striking result of this experience was the series of twelve lithographs ‘Various Subjects Drawn from Life and on Stone’, also known as ‘The English Set.’ Géricault continued his studies of the horse once he was back in France, producing the renowned series ‘Etudes, de chevaux lithographiés’. Géricault died in 1824 at age thirty-two after a prolonged illness caused by a riding accident. His last major works, discovered almost fifty years after his death, were penetrating portraits of the insane. Like the 'Raft of the Medusa,' they offered a new concept of appropriate subject matter for serious painting.

Creation Year:

c. 1820

Dimensions:

Height: 6.25 in (15.88 cm)Width: 8.07 in (20.5 cm)

Medium:

Lithograph

Movement & Style:

Romantic

After:

Jean Louis Andre Theodore Gericault (1791 - 1824, French)

Period:

1820-1829