Nineteenth Century French Drawings. London, Hazlitt, Gooden & Fox, 1979, cat. no. 6 (ill.) / Paris, Galerie Paul Prouté, 1979, cat. no. 68 (there: Étude pour le fils mort du radeau de la meduse), ill
Literature and illustration
Auction 7863: Old Master & 19th Century Paintings, Drawings & Watercolours Day. London, Christie's, 7.7.2010, cat. no. 365, ill. / Traits et portrait: Une collection Particulière. Paris, Sotheby's, 28.3.2019, cat. no. 107, ill
In his 1987 catalogue raisonné, Germain Bazin categorised our drawing among the figure studies and compositions based on antiquity that Géricault executed around 1815-1817. What is particularly remarkable, however, is that the figure's pose is strikingly similar to that of the dead youth being embraced by his father in the foreground of Géricault's masterpiece ‘Le Radeau de la Méduse’ (Paris, Louvre). It is therefore highly likely that our drawing is one of the anatomical studies that Géricault made in the Beaujon hospital in preparation for his masterpiece. The Parisian Galerie Paul Prouté also agreed, exhibiting the sheet as early as 1979 under the title ‘Étude pour le fils mort du radeau de la meduse’.
Nineteenth Century French Drawings. London, Hazlitt, Gooden & Fox, 1979, cat. no. 6 (ill.) / Paris, Galerie Paul Prouté, 1979, cat. no. 68 (there: Étude pour le fils mort du radeau de la meduse), ill
Literature and illustration
Auction 7863: Old Master & 19th Century Paintings, Drawings & Watercolours Day. London, Christie's, 7.7.2010, cat. no. 365, ill. / Traits et portrait: Une collection Particulière. Paris, Sotheby's, 28.3.2019, cat. no. 107, ill
In his 1987 catalogue raisonné, Germain Bazin categorised our drawing among the figure studies and compositions based on antiquity that Géricault executed around 1815-1817. What is particularly remarkable, however, is that the figure's pose is strikingly similar to that of the dead youth being embraced by his father in the foreground of Géricault's masterpiece ‘Le Radeau de la Méduse’ (Paris, Louvre). It is therefore highly likely that our drawing is one of the anatomical studies that Géricault made in the Beaujon hospital in preparation for his masterpiece. The Parisian Galerie Paul Prouté also agreed, exhibiting the sheet as early as 1979 under the title ‘Étude pour le fils mort du radeau de la meduse’.
