Théodore Géricault from Private Collections

25 . The Abandoned Cart

c. 1822 – 23 Oil on canvas 8 ¼ x 10 ½ inches ( 21 x 27 cm) Wax seal of Pierre Olivier Dubaut Collection on the strainer Inscribed on an old label mounted to the strainer: 71 Tombereau abandonne/Toile- 0.m 21.0 m. 27/App. À M.P. Dubaut Inscribed on a second label: (…?) C.M.A./ TR 5290/4 provenance Pierre Olivier Dubaut, Paris; thence by descent; Richard L. Feigen & Co.; Private Collection. exhi b i t ions New York, Gallery Sterner, Géricault , 1936 , no. 4 ; Bernheim-Jeune 1937 , no. 71 ; Paris, Durand-Ruel, Quelques maîtres de XVIII et du XIX siècle, 1938 , no. 33 ; Winterthur 1953 , no. 111 .

l i terature Grunchec 1978 , no. 242 ; Eitner, no. 75 ; Bazin, vol. VII, no. 2561 .

In the notes to his 1983 monograph (p. 356 , no. 75 ), Eitner placed this lively sketch in the orbit of Géricault’s late masterpiece, The Lime Kiln (fig. 25 ) and further suggested in a letter of 2000 that Géricault executed the sketch on the same site that inspired the painting. The Lime Kiln depicts a factory in the artist’s Montmartre neighborhood and in which he owned a stake. Both the subject and the stately naturalism of these works are closely tied to Géricault’s portrayals of working London from the previous year. The Abandoned Cart shares The Lime Kiln’s somber, earth-toned palette, evening setting, and effective use of discrete highlights to capture a fragment of the city’s industrial life.

Fig. 25 The Lime Kiln , 1822 – 23 , Musée du Louvre