Théodore Géricault from Private Collections

2 . Study of Riders (Verso: Three Studies of Polish Lancers)

c. 1813–14 Brown ink and grey wash over pencil on paper Verso: pencil 8 ¼ × 11 ¼ inches ( 21 . 0 × 28 . 5 cm) Collection stamp lower left on verso: Lugt 1124 b (Collection Maurice Gobin) provenance Former Collection Luc-Albert Moreau; Maurice Gobin; sale, Piasa, Paris, March 31 , 2000 , no. 115 . exhi b i t ions Paris, Galerie Maurice Gobin, Exposition de dessins, aquarelles & gouaches par Géricault, 1791–1824 , 1935 , no. 11 ; Bernheim-Jeune 1937 , no. 89 ; Paris, Géricault , 1950 , no. 15 (according to Gobin); Winterthur 1953 , nos. 955 and 958 ; Paris, Galerie Claude Aubry, Géricault dans les collections privées françaises: exposition organisée au bénéfice de la Société des amis du Louvre , November 6 –December 7 , 1964 , no. 55 (illus.). l i terature Maurice Gobin, Géricault (1791–1824): dans la collection d’un amateur , Paris: Éditions des Quatre Chemins-Éditart, 1958 (?), no. 7 – 8 (illus.); Bazin, vol. III, nos. 955 and 958 . The study of three lancers on the verso of this double-sided sheet documents a key moment in Géricault’s early oeuvre. During the final years of the Empire, Géricault was immersed in contemporary military subjects and was particularly interested in the equestrian portrait, the theme of his first two Salon paintings, The Charging Chasseur ( 1812 ) and The Wounded Cuirassier ( 1814 ). Like so many Frenchmen and young artists, Géricault was enthralled by Napoléonic military spectacle, including the splendid uniforms of the regiments of hussars, cuirassiers, and lancers who came through Paris as they returned from battle or drilled in preparation for new ones. The mounted figures of the drawing’s verso wear the distinctive uniform of a trumpeter in a regiment of the Polish Light-Cavalry lancers, and the artist has paid special attention to the distinctive, four-cornered czapka and high-waisted, high-collared kurtka . The drawing is a study for the painting, Mounted Trumpeters of the Napoléon’s Imperial Guard of 1813 – 14 (fig. 1 ); other graphite studies for the painting are in the album of drawings in the Art Institute of Chicago. The recto is a lively drawing that captures two smartly outfitted sportsmen as they calmly put their horses through Art Cuéllar-Nathan