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Summary of Théodore Géricault

Géricault's short career had a huge impact on the history of modern art and the evolution of French 19^th century painting in particular. His radical choice of subjects taken from contemporary life, his fusion of classical forms with an atmospheric, painterly style, his passion for horses, his attraction to sublime and horrific subjects, and his compassion for the weak and vulnerable in society make him a singularly complex artist, but one who helped set the path for Romanticism's emphasis on emotion and subjectivity. His most famous work, The Raft of the Medusa, was a watershed moment in the history of modern art, as it married the immediacy of current events and an eyewitness sensibility with the traditional, monumental format of a grand Salon painting. Much of Gericault's work relied on keen observation, social awareness and at times a politically engaged view of the world around him. Indeed, a unique combination of realism and raw emotion can be seen in many of his works, including the late series of monomaniacs and his earlier "portraits" of

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Géricault was born in 1791 into a wealthy family in Rouen that moved to Paris some years later. He received his first, short-lived art classes in Paris in the studios of Carle Vernet and Pierre Guérin. In 1811 Géricault decided to be responsible for his own training and began to copy works by the Old Masters in the Louvre. Aged only twenty-one and almost completely selftaught, in 1812 Géricault presented his first major work at the 1812 Salon, entitled Officer of the Imperial Guard on Horseback (Musée du Louvre, Paris). Over the following years Géricault continued copying and in 1814 he again showed a work at the Salon, entitled The Wounded Cuirassier (Musée du Louvre). This more elaborate composition was not as well received as the first one.

Having failed to gain a prize in the Prix de Rome, Géricault decided to travel to Italy at his own expense. Once there he was particularly impressed by the works of the Italian Renaissance artists, above all Michelangelo, and by Rubens. During his stay in Rome Géricault executed a series of paintings of the horse race known as the Cor

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Jean-Louis-André-Théodore Géricault

Géricault is now identified as a pioneer of Romanticism in French painting. He loved horses, and dramatic images of rearing horses feature in his work. He was born at Rouen, and from 1808 trained in Paris with Carle Vernet. But after two years he left Vernet - saying 'One of my horses would have devoured six of his' - to go to the Neo-classical painter Pierre Guérin, with whom his friend Delacroix later studied.

Géricault was influenced by the military subjects of Baron Gros and by works in the Louvre, notably those by Rubens and Renaissance Venetian painters. A visit to Italy in 1816-7 intensified Géricault's appreciation of Michelangelo. On his return to Paris he painted his most famous work, 'The Raft of the Medusa' (Paris, The Louvre), a scene of modern drama on a vast scale and executed in the heroic manner, which he exhibited at the Salon of 1819.

An admirer of English art, like Delacroix, he visited England in 1820-1, returning in a state of poor health. From his last years date an exceptional series of portraits, commis