Sheet of Sketches (recto and verso) (1819): Art, History and Details

Sheet of Sketches (recto and verso) (1819) 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:

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.

Object facts

• Title: Sheet of Sketches (recto and verso)
• Date: 1819
• Creator attribution: Théodore Géricault (French, 1791–1824)
• Culture: France, 19th century
• Type: Drawing
• Technique: pen and brown ink on ivory laid paper
• Dimensions: Sheet: 22.8 x 35 cm (9 x 13 3/4 in.)
• Collection: DR - French
• Department: Drawings
• Accession number: 1964.28

A detail from the museum

Géricault died at a young age and had a professional career lasting only just over a decade.

Collection credit

Dudley P. Allen Fund

Further reading listed by the museum

• Cocteau, Jean. Danse et divertissements. Exh. cat. Paris: Galerie Charpentier, 1948.
• Géricault, cet inconnu [. . .] (1791–1824): Aquarelles, gouaches, dessins. Exh. cat. Paris: Galerie Bignou, 1950.
• Théodore Géricault. Exh. cat. Winterthur, Switz.: Kunstmuseum, 1953.

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.