(Rouen 1791–1824 Paris)
Le cheval du platrier (The Plastermaker’s Horse), 1821-1823, pen and ink sketches on the reverse: horses and riders, a man on the ground, a seated oriental man in profile, a postillon from behind, a blacksmith and his horse, signed Géricault, graphite, brown ink, brown wash and heightened with gouache watercolour on card, 18.2 x 21.3 cm, framed

Provenance:
Private Collection, Italy.

We are grateful to Dr. Bruno Chenique for confirming the authenticity on the basis of the original.
The present lot will be included in the forthcoming Catalogue Raisonné des dessins inédits et retrouvés de Théodore Géricault, being prepared by Dr. Bruno Chenique.

A certificate issued by Dr. Bruno Chenique, 14 July 2022 is available upon request.

This beautiful and powerful watercolour by the painter Théodore Géricault (1791-1824), depicting The Plastermaker’s Horse, was until now completely unknown to experts on the artist. It beautifully completes our knowledge of an important series devoted to a theme that Géricault explored from his youth: the restive horse.

Géricault entered the studio of Carle Vernet (a historical painter with a passion for horses) in 1808, when he was not yet 17 years old, and joined Pierre Guérin’s studio around 1811-1812. In 1812, at the age of 21, he exhibited at the salon his famous Equestrian Portrait of M.D***, better known as Officer of the Imperial Guard Charging. It was a real success and Vivant Denon, director of the Napoleon Museum, awarded him a gold medal.

This magnificent watercolour is part of a series that Géricault devoted to the theme of the plaster maker’s horse during his third stay in London (in 1821). Several drawings and watercolours are directly related to an oil on canvas on the same subject. One important drawing (dated 1821) is clearly the synthesis of Géricault’s long graphical exploration and would be used as a lithograph two years later.

This watercolour is a very polished, strong and sculptural work that acquires the monumental effect of an oil on canvas. The clearly visible signature in the lower right-hand corner contributes to this “pictorial” strategy. Although this watercolour takes up the well-defined motifs of the lithograph and the painting (the pebbles on the ground, the shadow cast by the horse’s head, the rope and the ring set in the wall), Géricault has completely eliminated the cart full of plaster bags from his composition. What remains is a restive horse, free of its heavy load, but still tied up. The tight framing, the absence of the worker, and the absence of a window with bars in the background on the right of the building all contribute to creating a very different psychological climate. This restive horse is no longer surprised in his arduous daily task, he is alone, alone with us the spectators. An intimate tête-à-tête that allows us to better understand the complexity of his heavy harness and the spectacular anatomy of this horse finally free of his heavy cart. All at once we are confronted by a real force of nature. And suddenly the extreme fragility of his attachment (a thin rope connected to a small ring sealed to the wall) becomes obvious. He could free himself. According to Henri Zerner, Géricault’s horse “becomes the bearer of his mediations on passion, work, suffering and death”.

This theme (impeded freedom, animal and muscular strength), interested Géricault and was explored by him over several years, remaining close to his heart.

The strength of this watercolour is undoubtedly the result of a perfect mastery of every detail. The signature, which is perfectly autographed, attests that it was a sort of manifesto of the animal condition (labour and constrained freedom) that Géricault could have produced in 1822 when, suffering from sciatica, he was bedridden and made numerous watercolours of commercial nature. Montfort, his former pupil, gives an important account of this period of great creativity: “He also executed, at this time in Paris, a good number of watercolour and sepia drawings which he was able to place with various dealers. Many of these drawings were of great beauty: notwithstanding this, selling them was always difficult and his sensitivity was often tested.”

As for the small sketches on the reverse of this watercolour, we recognise Géricault’s graphic style from his stays in England (1820 and 1821) and they are undoubtedly related to his lithographs of this period. The farrier and his horse is thus clearly a study for The English Farrier, a lithograph published in London in May 1821. The postillon seems to be related to the lithograph Un Postillon, also known as the two harnessed horses, published in Paris in 1822, or the lithograph “Deux Chevaux à la Porte d’une Écurie”.

Dr Bruno Chenique