Gericault studied horses extensively throughout his life, and his stay in England in 1820–21 inspired a group of works representing elegant aspects of horsemanship and sport. The identity of this fashionably attired woman, who rides sidesaddle, is subject to speculation. Horse and rider are depicted in frieze-like profile, with the calm control she exerts over her mount standing in stark contrast to the portentous sky that distracts neither of them. Gericault here reconceives the traditional French image of a horsewoman, or Amazone, a term derived from ancient texts describing a fabled civilization of warrior women celebrated for their courage in battle.
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Credit Line:Bequest of Mrs. Charles Wrightsman in honor of Mercedes Bass, 2019
Accession Number:2019.141.11
This small, exquisite picture seems to be a genre painting created by Gericault to entice a private collector with its handsome subject and fine execution. It is unquestionably a result of Gericault's three trips to England (March 1819, April–June 1820, and January?–December 1821), although it may have been painted upon his return to France. Conditioned by state patronage in France, Gericault was impressed by the lively private art market in London and sought to capitalize on it for himself, as well as to tap into the Anglophilia that burgeoned in France following the occupation of Paris by the British and their allies in 1815. Some writers have speculated on the identity of the rider, without conclusion, seeing the picture as a portrait rather than a genre scene. The catalogue for the 1885 exhibition in Paris proposed a Mlle Clarke; in 1970 Denise Aimé-Azam proposed a baronne Athalin. The woman's costume could be either British or French, since fashionable French men and women wore English-style clothing when riding and hunting. A strong argument against reading the painting as a portrait rests in the watercolor version in Rotterdam: whether the watercolor preceded the painting or vice-versa, the existence of two nearly identical versions of the composition suggests that Gericault was pleased with it and, by keeping the watercolor, perhaps intended to make further copies, which would not likely be the case with a portrait of a private person.
Tinterow and Miller 2005; updated by Asher Ethan Miller 2014
Achille Boucher (until 1850; his sale, Hôtel des Ventes Mobilières, Paris, April 19–20, 1850, no. 27, as "Une femme à cheval"); Paul van Cuyck (until 1866; his estate sale, Hôtel Drouot, Paris, February 7–10, 1866, no. 19, as "Amazone montée sur un cheval pie," for Fr 3,300); Antoine François Marmontel, Paris (until 1868; his sale, Hôtel Drouot, Paris, May 11–14, 1868, no. 40, as "Amazone," for Fr 4,050 to Laurent-Richard); Laurent-Richard (1868–73; his sale, Hôtel Drouot, Paris, April 7, 1873, no. 34, as "L'Amazone," for Fr 11,800); [Durand-Ruel, Paris, in 1873]; Salomon Goldschmidt, Paris (by 1885–d. 1888; his estate sale, Galerie Georges Petit, Paris, May 17, 1888, no. 41, ill. [Huet etching], as "L'Amazone," for Fr 8,500 to Fournier); Fournier (from 1888); M. and Mme Jean Stern (by 1924–at least 1953); Countess Sanjust di Teulada, Paris (in 1979–80); [Eugene V. Thaw, New York, until 1982; sold to Wrightsman]; Mr. and Mrs. Charles Wrightsman, New York (1983–his d. 1986); Mrs. Charles Wrightsman, New York (1986–d. 2019; cat., 2005, no. 93)
Paris. Palais de la Présidence du Corps Législatif. "Ouvrages de peinture exposés au profit de la colonisation de l'Algérie par les Alsaciens-Lorrains," April 23–?, 1874, no. 817 [see Bazin 1997].
Paris. Ecole des Beaux-Arts. "Portraits du Siècle," April 20–?, 1885, no. 100 (as "Mlle Clarke à cheval," lent by M. Goldschmidt).
Paris. Hôtel Jean Charpentier. "Exposition d'œuvres de Gericault, au profit de La Société 'La Sauvegarde de l'Art Français'," April 24–May 16, 1924, no. 173 (as "Amazone montée sur un cheval pie," lent by Jean Stern).
Paris. La Renaissance. "Portraits et Figures de Femmes: Ingres à Picasso," June 1–30, 1928, no. 81 lent by Jean Stern.
Paris. Bernheim-Jeune. "Exposition Gericault, peintre et dessinateur (1791–1824)," May 10–29, 1937, no. 61 (as "Amazone montée sur un cheval pie," lent by Jean Stern).
Paris. Bernheim-Jeune. "Exposition de la femme, 1800–1930," April–June 1948, no. 41 (as "L'Amazone," identified as the artist's presumed mistress, 1820–22).
Paris. Musée Carnavalet. "Chefs d'oeuvre des collections parisienne: Peintures et dessins de l'école française du XIXe siècle," December 1952–February 1953, no. 51.
Winterthur. Kunstmuseum. "Théodore Géricault, 1791–1824," August 30–November 8, 1953, no. 96 (as "Amazone montant un cheval pie," lent by Jean Stern).
Paris. Galerie Claude Aubry. "Géricault dans les collections privées françaises," November 6–December 7, 1964, no. 33 (as "Amazone montée sur un cheval pie," lent by a private collection).
Rome. Villa Medici. "Gericault," November 1979–January 1980, no. 32 (as "Amazone montée sur un cheval pie," lent by a private collection, Paris / comtesse Sanjust di Teulada).
Rome. Villa Medici. "Gericault," November 1979–January 1980, no. 32 (as "Amazone montée sur un cheval pie," lent by a private collection, Paris / comtesse Sanjust di Teulada).
THIS WORK MAY NOT BE LENT, BY TERMS OF ITS ACQUISITION BY THE METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART.
Charles Clément. "Catalogue de l'œuvre de Gericault—Peinture." Gazette des beaux-arts 23 (September 1, 1867), p. 291, no. 133, under the heading "1820 à 1824," calls it "Amazone montée sur un cheval pie" and notes that it was sold at the Van Cuyck sale for 3,300 francs.
Charles Clément. Géricault: étude biographique et critique avec le catalogue raisonné de l'oeuvre du maître. 2nd ed. (1st ed. 1867). Paris, 1868, p. 311, no. 139.
Charles Clément. Géricault, étude biographique et critique avec le catalogue raisonné de l'œuvre du maitre. 3rd ed. (1st ed. 1867). Paris, 1879, pp. 311, 428, no. 139
.
"Revue des ventes." Journal des arts (May 18, 1888), p. 3 [see Bazin 1997].
Alfred de Lostalot. "La collection de tableaux et d'objets d'art de feu M. S. Goldschmidt." Gazette des beaux-arts, 2nd ser., 37 (May 1888), p. 423, calls it "Amazone".
Paul Eudel. L'Hôtel Drouot et la curiosité en 1887–1888. Paris, 1889, p. 392.
"Revue rétrospective des ventes." Journal des arts (February 13, 1897), p. 3 [see Bazin 1997].
Léon Rosenthal. "L'esthétique de Géricault." La revue de l'art ancien et moderne 18 (October 1905), ill. opp. p. 292, calls it "Amazone".
P. Adry. "L'exposition de Géricault." Le gaulois (May 17, 1924), p. 4 [see Bazin 1997].
Duc de Trévise. "Théodore Géricault." The Arts 12 (October 1927), ill. p. 194, calls it "The Amazon".
Arsène Alexandre. "Portraits et figures de femmes: Ingres à Picasso." La Renaissance 11 (July 1928), p. 262, no. 81, ill.
"Une magnifique exposition d'oeuvres de Géricault a été organisée par la 'Sauvegarde de l'art français'." Beaux-Arts 75 (May 14, 1937), p. 8, calls it "Amazone montée sur un cheval pie".
Klaus Berger. Géricault: Drawings & Watercolors. New York, 1946, p. 30, under no. 36, calls it "The Amazon," and publishes a drawing in the Lebel collection as a study by Gericault for the work.
Klaus Berger. Géricault und sein Werk. Vienna, 1952, p. 74, under no. 66 [English ed., trans. Winslow Ames, Lawrence, Kansas, 1955, repr. New York, 1978, p. 83], calls it "der Amazone," repeats the attribution to Gericault of the drawing first published in Berger 1946, and also that it is a study for this picture; locates the drawing in the Danforth collection, Providence.
Lorenz Eitner. "Review of Berger 1952." Zeitschrift für Kunstgeschichte 16 (1953), p. 81, calls it "Amazone" and finds it doubtful that the Lebel drawing is a study for this picture.
Lorenz Eitner. "Letter to the Editor." Art Bulletin 36 (June 1954), p. 167, calls it "Woman in Riding Costume on a Piebald Horse" and states that the drawing published as pl. 66 in Berger 1952 is neither by Gericault nor related to this painting.
Denise Aimé-Azam. Mazeppa: Géricault et son temps. Paris, 1956, pp. 262, 321.
Jacques Fischer. "Géricault in French Private Collections." Connoisseur 158 (January 1965), p. 52, calls it "Amazon on a piebald horse" and dates it to the artist's "English period".
Denise Aimé-Azam. La passion de Géricault. [Paris], 1970, pp. 281, 347, identifies the "amazone" as baronne Athalin.
Lorenz Eitner. Gericault. Exh. cat., Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Los Angeles, 1971, p. 143, under no. 99, notes that the subject corresponds to that of the watercolor in the Boijmans Van Beuningen Museum.
Lorenz Eitner inCharles Clément: Géricault; A Biographical and Critical Study with a Catalogue Raisonné of the Master's Works; Reprint of the Definitive Edition of 1879 [with Introduction and Supplement by Eitner]. New York, 1974, p. 456, no. 139, adds provenance and exhibition details.
Philippe Grunchec inTout l'oeuvre peint de Gericault. Paris, 1978, p. 118, no. 208, colorpl. L and fig. 208, calls it "Amazone montée sur un cheval pie," as in a private collection.
Philippe Grunchec. Gericault. Exh. cat., Villa Medici. Rome, 1979, pp. 243–45, no. 32, fig. A, calls it "Amazone montée sur un cheval pie".
Lorenz E. A. Eitner. Géricault, His Life and Work. London, 1983, pp. 237, 354 n. 116, fig. 202, calls it "Amazon," states that it may have been executed in England and observes that its "background of land and sky has affinities with the 'Epsom Down Derby' [Louvre], but the execution... seems drier than that of Géricault's English work".
Philippe Grunchec. Géricault's Horses: Drawings and Watercolours. New York, 1984, p. 154, fig. A, states that it was "very likely" executed following Gericault's return to France.
Philippe Grunchec. Master Drawings by Gericault. Exh. cat., Pierpont Morgan Library, New York. Washington, 1985, p. 157, under no. 82, fig. 82a, locates it on the American art market, calls it a "painted version" of the Boijmans watercolor, notes that the model is anonymous, and observes that in this work as in the watercolor "the artist 'attuned' the horse's coat to the sky aginst which the scene is depicted," with the result that in the painting it is "as if the sky had adopted the violent contrasts of the horse's coat".
Sylvain Laveissière inGericault. Exh. cat., Galeries nationales du Grand Palais. Paris, 1991, p. 395, under no. 256, fig. 358 (color).
Germain Bazin with documentation by Élisabeth Raffy. Théodore Géricault, étude critique, documents et catalogue raisonné. Vol. 7, Regard social et politique: Le séjour anglais et les heures de souffrance. Paris, 1997, pp. 23, 114–15, no. 2254, calls it "Amazone montant un cheval pie bai" and catalogues it among the works executed in England.
Gary Tinterow and Asher Ethan Miller inThe Wrightsman Pictures. Ed. Everett Fahy. New York, 2005, pp. 330–33, no. 93, ill. (color).
Nancy Kenney. "Jayne Wrightsman Leaves Over 375 Works of Art and $80m to The Met." Art Newspaper. November 13, 2019, ill. (color) [http://www.theartnewspaper.com/news/jayne-wrightsman-leaves-over-375-works-of-art-to-the-met].
Didier Rykner. "Le legs Wrightsman au Metropolitan (3): peintures et pastel français du XIXe." Tribune de l'art (August 26, 2019), fig. 3 (color) [https://www.latribunedelart.com/le-legs-wrightsman-au-metropolitan-3-peintures-et-pastel-francais-du-xixe].
There is a related watercolor in the Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Rotterdam (inv. no. F.II 184; Bazin 1997, no. 2255); it measures 11 1/8 x 8 7/8 inches (28.2 x 25.1 cm). The composition is essentially the same as in the painting, but details vary: the watercolor lacks the whip, the reins are slack, the horse is dappled grey, and a wooden fence is added in the background at left. It has not been established with certainty whether this is a study for the painting or a version of it. A tracing of the watercolor by Gericault's friend Léon Cogniet is in the Musée des beaux-arts, Orléans (inv. no. 575 [368] C4; see Bazin 1997, vol. 7, p. 24, fig. 15).
An etching after the painting by Charles Coutry was published in the catalogue of the Laurent-Richard sale, 1873 (a separate edition includes a photograph of the painting). It was also etched by R. Paul Huet for the catalogue of the Goldschmidt sale, 1888.
This work may not be lent, by terms of its acquisition by The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
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