Théodore Géricault from Private Collections

7 . Study for “ The Oath of Brutus after the Death of Lucretia”

c. 1815 Pencil on pale green paper 3 ⅞ x 5 ⅜ inches ( 10 x 13.5 cm)

Richard L. Feigen & Co.

This drawing was recently discovered in an album assembled in France in 1842 by an unidentified man for his daughter, Blanche. The album contained drawings, watercolors, poems, letters, and musical notations. Correspondence from Lorenz Eitner, dated January 24 , 2000 , dates it c. 1815 , the same period as the drawings in the Zoubaloff sketchbook. He locates these drawings at a turning point in Géricault’s artistic development, when his attention shifted from the modern military subjects of 1812 – 14 , in an effort to formulate an “antique manner,” a style for depicting classical themes or heroic narrative subjects. This drawing is a preliminary study for a rare, early oil sketch titled The Oath of Brutus after the Death of Lucretia , c. 1815 , now in the collection of The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art (fig. 6 ). Another drawing from the same album is also known (art market, current location unknown) and depicts a different scene from the life of Junius Brutus, Brutus Condemning his Sons to Death . Though fairly summary, the two pencil drawings may document a major project involving thematically connected paintings, perhaps of large format. Although no other studies for Brutus Condemning his Sons are known, the oil sketch in Kansas City proves that Géricault developed at least part of this project beyond the stage of the pencil sketch.

Fig. 6 The Oath of Brutus after the Death of Lucretia , c. 1815 – 1816 , The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art ( 92 . 35 )