Théodore Géricault from Private Collections

5 . Fallen Warrior: Study after “The Battle of Constantine” by Giulio Romano

c. 1815 – 1816 Pencil and brown ink on paper 7 ¼ x 4 ⅞ inches ( i8 . 3 x 12 . 3 cm)

provenance Private Collection, Paris; Jill Newhouse ( 1988 ).

l i terature Eitner, no. 126 .

Private Collection

In correspondence of June 1988 , Eitner identified this work and cat. 6 as studies by Géricault from an engraving after Giulio Romano’s The Battle of Constantine again st Maxentius , an enormous fresco in the Vatican. (The fresco was designed by Raphael; Giulio directed and completed the fresco’s execution after Raphael’s cartoon, fig. 5 ). Eitner dated the drawings c. 1815 – 16 , after Géricault’s studies with Carle Vernet and Pierre-Narcisse Gúerin and before his trip to Italy. During this period, the artist immersed himself in a wide-ranging, independent course of study at the Louvre, producing many paintings and drawings after the antique, and Baroque and Renaissance art. He also made a number of drawings after reproductive engravings, adopting a linear style that responds to the engravings’ graphic language. This study of the strained, reaching limbs of a fallen warrior is indicative of Géricault’s persistent interest in the expressive power of active, muscular bodies depicted in battle. In the drawing reproduced as cat. 6 , the battling figures emerge as dynamic, energetic bodies; the sense of movement inspired by Giulio’s fresco. According to Eitner, other drawings after an engraving of The Battle of Constantine may be found in the Zoubaloff sketchbook in the Louvre. Grunchec and Whitney maintain that Géricault’s oil sketch after The Battle of Constaintine (private collection) was made from the fresco itself in Rome c. 1817 , while Eitner believed that the painting was made from the engraving as well (Whitney, p. 40 ). (AK)

Fig. 5 Giulio Romano (Italian, 1499 – 1546 ), The Battle of Constantine again st Maxentius , 1517 – 1524 , Vatican Museum