Ask the Scholar
Document scope · 1 page
Scholar
Ask about this object, its catalog metadata, its source description, or the page inventory.
For page-specific OCR and visual context, open one of the page chats.
Source Description
The inscription at the upper left of the sheet states that Géricault executed these studies at the spring of the Magdelaine, near the forest of Fontainebleau, which he visited in 1819. The male figures closely resemble the earlier studies he made while in Italy of peasants during horse races at annual Roman carnivals. Here, men struggle to keep control of their unseen animals during the moments before the race. The verso female figures, visible though the paper, derive directly from Pompeiian paintings of bacchanals, or revelers participating in festivals honoring Bacchus, the god of wine.
Scholar Source Context
Document identity
localId
140325
label
Sheet of Sketches (recto and verso)
core
obj
dtoType
drawing
pageCount
1
Source metadata
id
140325
contentType
drawing
title
Sheet of Sketches (recto and verso)
description
The inscription at the upper left of the sheet states that Géricault executed these studies at the spring of the Magdelaine, near the forest of Fontainebleau, which he visited in 1819. The male figures closely resemble the earlier studies he made while in Italy of peasants during horse races at annual Roman carnivals. Here, men struggle to keep control of their unseen animals during the moments before the race. The verso female figures, visible though the paper, derive directly from Pompeiian paintings of bacchanals, or revelers participating in festivals honoring Bacchus, the god of wine.
date
1819
citation
rights
CC0
rightsUri
CC0
language
en
wikidata
Q80038402
creators
11643
genreSpecific
Drawing
imageCount
1
source
import
dimensionsRaw
Sheet: 22.8 x 35 cm (9 x 13 3/4 in.)
cul
France, 19th century
accession
1964.28
Source extras
tec
pen and brown ink on ivory laid paper
tombstone
Sheet of Sketches (recto and verso), 1819. Théodore Géricault (French, 1791–1824). Pen and brown ink on ivory laid paper; sheet: 22.8 x 35 cm (9 x 13 3/4 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Dudley P. Allen Fund, 1964.28
supportMaterials
description
ivory laid paper
watermarks
shell or plume
collection
DR - French
inscriptions
inscription
inscribed, in brown ink, at upper left: dessin de gericault fait à fontain la magdelaine; watermark, at center: scallop shell (possibly J. Berger or J. Bouchet)
didYouKnow
Géricault died at a young age and had a professional career lasting only just over a decade.
citations
citation
Cocteau, Jean. <em>Danse et divertissements</em>. Exh. cat. Paris: Galerie Charpentier, 1948.
page_number
Mentioned: no. 109
citation
<em>Géricault, cet inconnu </em>[. . .] <em>(1791–1824): Aquarelles, gouaches, dessins</em>. Exh. cat. Paris: Galerie Bignou, 1950.
page_number
Mentioned: no. 6
citation
<em>Théodore Géricault</em>. Exh. cat. Winterthur, Switz.: Kunstmuseum, 1953.
page_number
Mentioned: p. 46, no. 167
citation
<em>Gros, Géricault, Delacroix</em>. Exh. cat. Paris: Galerie Bernheim-Jeune, 1954.
page_number
Mentioned: no. 42
citation
<em>Aquarelles et dessins de Delacroix à Vlaminck</em>. Exh. cat. Paris: Galerie Marcel Guiot, 1963.
page_number
Mentioned: no. 23
citation
"Year in Review for 1964." <em>The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art</em> 51, no. 10 (1964): 236-66.
page_number
Mentioned: p. 265, no. 119; Reproduced: p. 246
citation
Bazin, Germain. <em>Théodore Géricault: Étude critique, documents et catalogue raisonné</em>.. Paris: Wildenstein Institute, 1994.
page_number
Mentioned: vol. 6, p. 72, 178, nos. 2109 and 2110; Reproduced: vol. 6, p. 178
citation
Ives, Colta and Elizabeth E. Barker. <em>Romanticism & the School of Nature: Nineteenth-Century Drawings and Paintings from the Karen B. Cohen Collection</em>. Exh. cat. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000.
page_number
Mentioned: p. 43n3
citation
Salsbury, Britany. <em>Nineteenth-Century French Drawings: The Cleveland Museum of Art</em>. Lewes, UK, Cleveland, Ohio: GILES; Cleveland Museum of Art, 2023.
page_number
Mentioned and reproduced: p. 84-87, no. 6
catalogueRaisonne
Bazin 2109 and 2110
creditline
Dudley P. Allen Fund
updatedAt
2026-05-29 07:12:22.157000
sourceId
140325
dept
Drawings
coll
DR - French
med
pen and brown ink on ivory laid paper
creatorTags
male
thumbnail_url
image_url
Single page context
seq
1
pageIndex
0
type
photo
mediaId
02231a1b4c74c69a