Return from Russia (c. 1818): Art, History and Details

Return from Russia (c. 1818) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection. The museum's creator attribution is Théodore Géricault (French, 1791–1824).

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

Géricault was an accomplished lithographer who realized the potential of the medium. Two stones were used to print this image—one for the design printed in black and the other to create the broad areas of tone printed in ochre. This is one of the earliest French lithographs in which a second color is somewhat integrated into the image instead of just being used for the overall background. Géricault added white watercolor to indicate snow on the lower portion of the scene. Unlike other artists who glorified the Napoleonic Wars (1792–1815), Gericault portrayed a realistic image of the misery and horrors of combat. This scene of two wounded soldiers and exhausted, starving animals is a powerful statement of the pitiful conditions following Napoleon's defeat by the Russians.

Object facts

• Title: Return from Russia
• Date: c. 1818
• Creator attribution: Théodore Géricault (French, 1791–1824)
• Culture: France, 19th century
• Type: Print
• Technique: lithograph printed in black and ochre with watercolor added by hand
• Dimensions: Border: 44.4 x 36.4 cm (17 1/2 x 14 5/16 in.)
• Collection: PR - Lithograph
• Department: Prints
• Accession number: 1931.48

A detail from the museum

This print was created at a time when Théodore Géricault was focusing on military subjects in his prints, drawings, and paintings.

Collection credit

Gift of The Print Club of Cleveland

Further reading listed by the museum

• Francis, Henry. "Recent Accessions to the Department of Prints." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 21, no. 10 (December 1934): 158-161.
• Catalogue of an exhibition of the art of lithography: commemorating the sesquicentennial of its invention, 1798-1948. [Cleveland]: The Cleveland Museum of Art, November 11, 1948-January 2, 1949.

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.