Born:
September 26, 1791; Rouen, Normandy, France
Died:
January 26, 1824; Paris, France
Nationality:
French
Art Movement:
Romanticism
Field:
Painting, lithography
Influenced by:
John Constable, Peter Paul Rubens, Michelangelo, Titian, Diego Velázquez,
Rembrandt, Antoine-Jean Gros, Henry Fuseli, John Singleton Copley
Influenced on:
Eugene Delacroix, Piotr Michałowski, Ary Scheffer
Teachers:
Carle Vernet, Pierre-Narcisse Guérin
Théodore
Géricault was a French painter and lithographer who was one of the pioneers of
the Romantic movement.
Born in Rouen, France, Géricault learned art from Carle Vernet and Pierre-Narcisse Guérin.
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| Portrait of Carle Vernet, Robert Lefevre |
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| Portrait of Pierre-Narcisse Guérin, Robert Lefèvre |
Then, from 1810 to 1815, he studied paintings at the Louvre, where he
copied paintings by Rubens, Titian, Velázquez and Rembrandt.
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| The Louvre Museum |
His
first major work, "The Charging Chasseur," showing the influence of
the style of Rubens and his interest in depicting contemporary themes, was exhibited
at the Paris Salon of 1812.
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| The Charging Chasseur, Théodore Géricault |
He
exhibited “The Wounded Cuirassier” at the Salon in 1814, but he was
disappointed by the lesser reactions than before, and entered the army and
served in the garrison of Versailles.
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| The Wounded Cuirassier, Théodore Géricault |
He was fascinated by Michelangelo while traveling to Florence, Rome, and Naples from 1816 to 1817, and his series of lithographs on military subjects after returning from Italy is considered some of the earliest masterpieces in the field of lithography.
His most famous painting is "The Raft of the Medusa
(1818-19)," depicting the incident on the French shipwreck, Meduse, where
the captain had left the crew and passengers to die.
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| The Raft of the Medusa, Théodore Géricault |
Géricault's
dramatic interpretation of the incident, which has become a national scandal,
presented its tragedy on a monumental scale. The painting aroused political
controversy when it was first exhibited at the Paris Salon of 1819, but it was
highly praised at the 1820 British exhibition.
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| The frigate Méduse sailing |
Géricault,
who returned to France in 1821, drew a series of ten portraits depicting
psychiatric patients of Dr. Étienne-Jean Georget, one of the pioneers in
psychiatric medicine, among which five portraits, including "Insane
Woman" remain.
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| Insane Woman, Théodore Géricault |
Famous Works (Théodore Géricault)
Thank
you.
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| Monument at Géricault's tomb, Antoine Étex |
