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Source Description
Théodore Géricault turned away from traditional subjects such as mythology and the Bible in favor of modernity, emotion, and drama. He was fascinated by the power and physical beauty of horses and depicted them often. Géricault himself was an avid rider and his paintings and drawings on this theme are characterized by vigor and movement. In this watercolor, he focused on a conflict, in which a groom struggles to separate a pair of fighting horses—a scene that appeared only a few times throughout his many interpretations of similar subjects. A sketchbook, now in the collection of the Art Institute of Chicago, shows that the artist carefully studied the animals, including the kicking white stallion at center, in graphite before beginning this finished work.
Scholar Source Context
Document identity
localId
110565
label
Fighting Horses
core
obj
dtoType
drawing
pageCount
1
Source metadata
id
110565
contentType
drawing
title
Fighting Horses
description
Théodore Géricault turned away from traditional subjects such as mythology and the Bible in favor of modernity, emotion, and drama. He was fascinated by the power and physical beauty of horses and depicted them often. Géricault himself was an avid rider and his paintings and drawings on this theme are characterized by vigor and movement. In this watercolor, he focused on a conflict, in which a groom struggles to separate a pair of fighting horses—a scene that appeared only a few times throughout his many interpretations of similar subjects. A sketchbook, now in the collection of the Art Institute of Chicago, shows that the artist carefully studied the animals, including the kicking white stallion at center, in graphite before beginning this finished work.
date
c. 1820
citation
rights
CC0
rightsUri
CC0
language
en
wikidata
Q60757041
creators
11643
genreSpecific
Drawing
imageCount
1
source
import
dimensionsRaw
Sheet: 21.7 x 29.4 cm (8 9/16 x 11 9/16 in.)
cul
France, 19th century
accession
1929.13
Source extras
tec
watercolor over graphite
tombstone
Fighting Horses, c. 1820. Théodore Géricault (French, 1791–1824). Watercolor over graphite; sheet: 21.7 x 29.4 cm (8 9/16 x 11 9/16 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Charles W. Harkness Endowment Fund, 1929.13
supportMaterials
description
ivory wove paper
collection
DR - French
inscriptions
inscription
on old label (now removed), in brown ink: This drawing by Géricault was / the property of The Marquis of / Hertford & left to Sir Richard / Wallace, who in time bequethed / it to Sir John Murray Scott / Bart: / Purchased by Leggatt Bros at / the sale of Sir John Murray / Scott's Drawings etc, at 5 / Connaught Place Marble Arch. / Feb: 9th 1914.; on old label (now removed): across top, in graphite: 41 [circled] Dr. Bellingham Smith; down center, in brown ink: J. L. A. T. Géricault / Horses Fighting / Colles Marquess of Hertford / Sir Richard Wallace and / Sir John Murray Scott / Exhib. Burlington Fine Arts Club / 1922 . No 52. / Pictures drawings & Sculptures of French School / of the last 100 years.
didYouKnow
Théodore Géricault began this work with sketches from life, which became a graphite underdrawing beneath the watercolors.
citations
citation
Black, C.C. <em>Catalogue of the Collection of Paintings, Porcelain, Bronzes, Decorative Furniture, and Other Works of Art, Lent for the Exhibition in the Bethnal Green Branch of the South Kensington Museum, by Sir Richard Wallace</em>. Exh. Cat. London: Bethnal Green Branch Museum, 1874.
page_number
Mentioned: no. 735
citation
<em>Catalogue of Pictures, Drawings, and Sculpture of the French School of the Last 100 Years</em>. Exh. Cat. London: Burlington Fine Arts Club, 1922.
page_number
Mentioned: no. 52
citation
“Lists of Objects in the Exhibition.” <em>The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art</em> 16, no. 9 (1929): 159–75.
page_number
Mentioned: p. 159
citation
Francis, Henry S. "A Drawing by Théodore Géricault." <em>Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art</em> 20, no. 7 (July 1933): 111-113
page_number
Mentioned: 111-113; Reproduced: p. 119
citation
Francis, Henry. "Exhibition of the Work of Géricault." <em>Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art</em> 24 (1937): 24-26.
page_number
Mentioned: p. 24
citation
Berger, Klaus. <em>Gericault: Drawings & Watercoolrs</em>. New York: H. Bittner, 1946.
page_number
Mentioned and reproduced: no. 24
citation
<em>19th-Century French Drawings</em>. Exh. Cat. San Francisco: California Palace of the Legion of Honor, 1947.
page_number
Mentioned: no. 22
citation
<em>Watercolors by the Masters: Dürer to Cézanne</em>. Exh. Cat. Minneapolis: Minneapolis Institute of Arts, 1952.
page_number
Mentioned: no. 35
citation
<em>Théodore Géricault, 1791-1824</em>. Exh. Cat. Winterthur: Kunstmuseum Winterthur, 1953.
page_number
Mentioned: no. 47
citation
Either, Lorenz. "Géricault at Winterthur." <em>Burlington Magazine</em> 96, no. 617 (August 1954): 254-259.
page_number
Mentioned: p. 259
citation
<em>De David à Toulouse-Lautrec; chefs-d'œuvres des collections américaines</em>. Exh. Cat. Paris: Musée de l'Orangerie, 1955.
page_number
Mentioned: no. 75; Reproduced: plate 12
citation
Roger-Marx, Claude. "Les Chefs-d'oeuvre des musées des États-Unis: De David à Toulouse-Lautrec." <em>Le Jardin des arts</em> (May 1955): 385-400.
page_number
Mentioned: pp. 396, 400
citation
Veronesi, Giulia. "Saluto alla Francia." <em>Emporium</em> 122 (September 1955).
page_number
Reproduced: p. 118
citation
The Cleveland Museum of Art. <em>The Cleveland Museum of Art Handbook.</em> Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1958.
page_number
Mentioned and Reproduced: cat. no. 598
citation
Hüttinger, Eduard. <em>Sammlung Emil G. Bührle</em>. Exh. Cat. Zürich: Kunsthaus Zürich, 1958.
page_number
Mentioned: p. 84, under no. 107
citation
Eitner, Lorenz. <em>Géricault: An Album of Drawings in the Art Institute of Chicago</em>. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1960.
page_number
Mentioned: p. 27, under nos. 20 and 21
citation
Eitner, Lorenz. <em>The Nineteenth Century: One Hundred Twenty-Five Master Drawings</em>. Exh. Cat. New York: Guggenheim Museum, 1962.
page_number
Mentioned: no. 48; Reproduced: plate 18
citation
Mongan, Agnes. <em>Great Drawings of All Time</em>. Vol. 3. New York: Shorewood Press, 1962.
page_number
Mentioned and reproduced: no. 727
citation
The Cleveland Museum of Art. <em>Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1966</em>. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1966.
page_number
Reproduced: p. 168
citation
Virch, Claus. <em>The Artist and the Animal.</em> Exh. Cat. New York: Knoedler, 1968.
page_number
Mentioned and reproduced: p. 56, no. 72
citation
The Cleveland Museum of Art. <em>Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1969</em>. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1969.
page_number
Reproduced: p. 168
citation
Eitner, Lorenz. <em>Géricault</em>. Exh. Cat. Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 1971.
page_number
Mentioned: pp. 107, 180-181, no. 65; Reproduced: p. 107
citation
Reidemeister, Leopold, Brigitte Zehmisch, Rolf Kultzen, et al. <em>Fondation Collection Emil G. Bührle</em>. Munich: Artemis, 1973.
page_number
Mentioned: p. 58, under no. 10
citation
The Cleveland Museum of Art. <em>Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1978</em>. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1978.
page_number
Reproduced: p. 206
citation
Thuillier, Jacques and Grunchec, Philippe. <em>L'opera completa di Gericault</em>. Milan: Rizzoli, 1978.
page_number
Mentioned: p. 101, under no. 98
citation
Eitner, Lorenz. "Review: Tout l'oeuvre peint de Géricault." <em>Burlington Magazine </em>122, no. 924 (March 1980): 206-210.
page_number
Mentioned: p. 206
citation
Grunchec, Phlippe. <em>Gericault: Dessins et Aquarelles de Chevaux</em>. Lausanne: Edita, 1982.
page_number
Mentioned: p. 94; Reproduced: p. 95
citation
Grunchec, Philippe. <em>Master Drawings by Gericault</em>. Exh. Cat. Washington, DC: International Exhibitions Foundation, 1985.
page_number
Mentioned and reproduced: no. 59
citation
Ingamells, John. <em>The Wallace Collection Catalogue of Pictures: French Nineteenth Century</em>. London: Wallace Collection, 1986.
page_number
Mentioned: p. 301, no. 139
citation
Eitner, Lorenz E.A. and Steven A. Nash. <em>Gericault, 1791-1824</em>. Exh. Cat. San Francisco: Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, 1989.
page_number
Mentioned: no. 48
citation
Laveissière, Sylvain and Régis Michel. <em>Gericault</em>. Exh. Cat. Pairs: Galeries nationales du Grand Palais, 1991.
page_number
Mentioned and reproduced: no. 353
citation
Noel, Bernard. <em>Géricault</em>. Paris: Flammarion, 1991.
page_number
Reproduced: p. 66
citation
Bazin, Germain. <em>Théodore Géricault: étude critique, documents et catalogue raisonné</em>. Paris: Wildenstein, 1992.
page_number
Mentioned: pp. 69, 214, no. 1657; Reproduced: p. 214
citation
"Drawings on Exhibition." <em>Drawing</em> 16, no. 6 (March - April 1995): 131-133.
page_number
Reproduced: p. 131
citation
Brugerolles, Emmanuelle. <em>Géricault: Dessins & estampes des collections de l'École des Beaux-Arts</em>. Exh. Cat. Paris: École nationale supéreure des Beaux-Arts, 1997.
page_number
Mentioned: p. 221, under no. E.9
citation
DeGrazia, Diane, and Carter E. Foster. <em>Master Drawings from the Cleveland Museum of Art</em>. Exh. Cat. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2000.
page_number
Mentioned: pp. 126-127, p. 290, no. 49; Reproduced: p. 127
citation
Chenique, Bruno. <em>Les Chevaux de Géricault</em>. Paris: Bibliotheque de l'Image, 2002.
page_number
Mentioned and reproduced: p. 38, no. 36
citation
Alsteens, Stijn, Carmen C. Bambach, George Goldner, et al, eds. <em>Raphael to Renoir: Drawings from the Collection of Jean Bonna</em>. Exh. Cat. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2009.
page_number
Mentioned and reproduced: p. 220, under no. 97
catalogueRaisonne
Bazin 1657
creditline
Charles W. Harkness Endowment Fund
updatedAt
2026-05-29 05:52:09.407000
sourceId
110565
dept
Drawings
coll
DR - French
med
watercolor over graphite
creatorTags
male
thumbnail_url
image_url
Single page context
seq
1
pageIndex
0
type
photo
mediaId
951c024c8ccfd751