The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of April 19, 2024

Fighting Horses

c. 1820

Théodore Géricault

(French, 1791–1824)

France, 19th century

watercolor over graphite

Sheet: 21.7 x 29.4 cm (8 9/16 x 11 9/16 in.)

Charles W. Harkness Endowment Fund 1929.13

Catalogue raisonné: Bazin 1657

Location: not on view

Did You Know?

Théodore Géricault began this work with sketches from life, which became a graphite underdrawing beneath the watercolors.

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.

?-1863
Possibly Anatole Demidoff [1812-1870], Paris
1863
(Hotel Drouot, Paris, Tableaux des premiers maitres..., January 13-16, 1863, no. 58, probably sold to Richard Seymour-Conway, 4th Marquess of Hertford)
probably 1863-1870
Richard Seymour-Conway, 4th Marquess of Hertford [1800-1870], by descent to his son Sir Richard Wallace
1870-1890
Sir Richard Wallace [1818-1890], Paris, by descent to his wife Julie-Amélie-Charlotte Castelnau, Lady Wallace
1890-1897
Julie-Amélie-Charlotte Castelnau, Lady Wallace [1819-1897], London, by descent to her advisor Sir John Murray Scott
1897-1912
Sir John Murray Scott [1847-1912], London
1914
(Phillips, Son & Neale, Contents of the Residence...of Sir John E.A. Murray Scott, February 9, 1914, no. 446)
after 1914-?
(Ernest Leggatt [1853-1922; Lugt 1664e], London, sold to Guy Bellingham Smith)
after 1914-1927
Guy Bellingham Smith, London
1927
(Frederik Muller & Cie, Amsterdam, Dessins anciens...Collection Bellingham-Smith, July 5-6, 1927, no. 38, probably sold to Gustav Nebehay)
1927
(Gustav Nebehay [1881-1935], Vienna, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art)
1929-
The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
Provenance Footnotes
1 As "Un Marché aux chevaux. Aquarelle."
2 Inscribed on an old label.
3 According to Hertford House inventory of 1890.
4 As "Wild Horses; and Horses in a Stable (a pair)."
5 According to a letter from Guy Bellingham Smith, CMA files.
6 As "Combat de chevaux. Au centre, un grand cheval blanc; à gauche et à droite, des chevaux bruns et autres aux fond. Aquarelle.-Haut. 21,5, larg. 29,5 cent."
Black, C.C. 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. Exh. Cat. London: Bethnal Green Branch Museum, 1874. Mentioned: no. 735
Catalogue of Pictures, Drawings, and Sculpture of the French School of the Last 100 Years. Exh. Cat. London: Burlington Fine Arts Club, 1922. Mentioned: no. 52
“Lists of Objects in the Exhibition.” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 16, no. 9 (1929): 159–75. Mentioned: p. 159 www.jstor.org
Francis, Henry S. "A Drawing by Théodore Géricault." Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 20, no. 7 (July 1933): 111-113 Mentioned: 111-113; Reproduced: p. 119
Francis, Henry. "Exhibition of the Work of Géricault." Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 24 (1937): 24-26. Mentioned: p. 24
Berger, Klaus. Gericault: Drawings & Watercoolrs. New York: H. Bittner, 1946. Mentioned and reproduced: no. 24
19th-Century French Drawings. Exh. Cat. San Francisco: California Palace of the Legion of Honor, 1947. Mentioned: no. 22
Watercolors by the Masters: Dürer to Cézanne. Exh. Cat. Minneapolis: Minneapolis Institute of Arts, 1952. Mentioned: no. 35
Théodore Géricault, 1791-1824. Exh. Cat. Winterthur: Kunstmuseum Winterthur, 1953. Mentioned: no. 47
Either, Lorenz. "Géricault at Winterthur." Burlington Magazine 96, no. 617 (August 1954): 254-259. Mentioned: p. 259
De David à Toulouse-Lautrec; chefs-d'œuvres des collections américaines. Exh. Cat. Paris: Musée de l'Orangerie, 1955. Mentioned: no. 75; Reproduced: plate 12
Roger-Marx, Claude. "Les Chefs-d'oeuvre des musées des États-Unis: De David à Toulouse-Lautrec." Le Jardin des arts (May 1955): 385-400. Mentioned: pp. 396, 400
Veronesi, Giulia. "Saluto alla Francia." Emporium 122 (September 1955). Reproduced: p. 118
The Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art Handbook. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1958. Mentioned and Reproduced: cat. no. 598 archive.org
Hüttinger, Eduard. Sammlung Emil G. Bührle. Exh. Cat. Zürich: Kunsthaus Zürich, 1958. Mentioned: p. 84, under no. 107
Eitner, Lorenz. Géricault: An Album of Drawings in the Art Institute of Chicago. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1960. Mentioned: p. 27, under nos. 20 and 21
Eitner, Lorenz. The Nineteenth Century: One Hundred Twenty-Five Master Drawings. Exh. Cat. New York: Guggenheim Museum, 1962. Mentioned: no. 48; Reproduced: plate 18
Mongan, Agnes. Great Drawings of All Time. Vol. 3. New York: Shorewood Press, 1962. Mentioned and reproduced: no. 727
The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1966. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1966. Reproduced: p. 168 archive.org
Virch, Claus. The Artist and the Animal. Exh. Cat. New York: Knoedler, 1968. Mentioned and reproduced: p. 56, no. 72
The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1969. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1969. Reproduced: p. 168 archive.org
Eitner, Lorenz. Géricault. Exh. Cat. Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 1971. Mentioned: pp. 107, 180-181, no. 65; Reproduced: p. 107
Reidemeister, Leopold, Brigitte Zehmisch, Rolf Kultzen, et al. Fondation Collection Emil G. Bührle. Munich: Artemis, 1973. Mentioned: p. 58, under no. 10
The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1978. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1978. Reproduced: p. 206 archive.org
Thuillier, Jacques and Grunchec, Philippe. L'opera completa di Gericault. Milan: Rizzoli, 1978. Mentioned: p. 101, under no. 98
Eitner, Lorenz. "Review: Tout l'oeuvre peint de Géricault." Burlington Magazine 122, no. 924 (March 1980): 206-210. Mentioned: p. 206
Grunchec, Phlippe. Gericault: Dessins et Aquarelles de Chevaux. Lausanne: Edita, 1982. Mentioned: p. 94; Reproduced: p. 95
Grunchec, Philippe. Master Drawings by Gericault. Exh. Cat. Washington, DC: International Exhibitions Foundation, 1985. Mentioned and reproduced: no. 59
Ingamells, John. The Wallace Collection Catalogue of Pictures: French Nineteenth Century. London: Wallace Collection, 1986. Mentioned: p. 301, no. 139
Eitner, Lorenz E.A. and Steven A. Nash. Gericault, 1791-1824. Exh. Cat. San Francisco: Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, 1989. Mentioned: no. 48
Laveissière, Sylvain and Régis Michel. Gericault. Exh. Cat. Pairs: Galeries nationales du Grand Palais, 1991. Mentioned and reproduced: no. 353
Noel, Bernard. Géricault. Paris: Flammarion, 1991. Reproduced: p. 66
Bazin, Germain. Théodore Géricault: étude critique, documents et catalogue raisonné. Paris: Wildenstein, 1992. Mentioned: pp. 69, 214, no. 1657; Reproduced: p. 214
"Drawings on Exhibition." Drawing 16, no. 6 (March - April 1995): 131-133. Reproduced: p. 131
Brugerolles, Emmanuelle. Géricault: Dessins & estampes des collections de l'École des Beaux-Arts. Exh. Cat. Paris: École nationale supéreure des Beaux-Arts, 1997. Mentioned: p. 221, under no. E.9
DeGrazia, Diane, and Carter E. Foster. Master Drawings from the Cleveland Museum of Art. Exh. Cat. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2000. Mentioned: pp. 126-127, p. 290, no. 49; Reproduced: p. 127
Chenique, Bruno. Les Chevaux de Géricault. Paris: Bibliotheque de l'Image, 2002. Mentioned and reproduced: p. 38, no. 36
Alsteens, Stijn, Carmen C. Bambach, George Goldner, et al, eds. Raphael to Renoir: Drawings from the Collection of Jean Bonna. Exh. Cat. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2009. Mentioned and reproduced: p. 220, under no. 97
Treasures on Paper from the Collection of the Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (March 9-June 8, 2014).
Master Drawings from the Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (August 27-October 17, 2000); The Morgan Library & Museum, New York, NY (May 23-August 19, 2001); Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Houston, TX (October 14, 2001-January 6, 2002).
French Drawings from the Collection. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (December 13, 1994-March 12, 1995).
Géricault. Musée du Louvre, Paris, France (September 26, 1991-January 6, 1992).
Gericault: Romantic Paintings and Drawings. Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, San Francisco, CA (organizer) (January 28-March 26, 1989).
Treasures on Paper. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (May 10-July 24, 1988).
Master Drawings by Géricault. The Morgan Library & Museum, New York, NY (organizer) (June 7-July 31, 1985); San Diego Museum of Art, San Diego, CA (August 31-October 20, 1985); Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Houston, TX (November 9, 1985-January 5, 1986).
Goya, Gericault and Delacroix. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (January 25-April 24, 1983).
Brush Drawings. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (March 3-May 10, 1981).
Géricault. Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, CA (organizer) (October 12-December 12, 1971); The Detroit Institute of Arts, Detroit, MI (January 23-March 7, 1972); Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, PA (March 30-May 14, 1972).
Collection of Paintings, Porcelain, Bronzes, Decorative Furniture, and Other Works of Art Lent for Exhibition. Bethnal Green Branch of the South Kensington Museum (June 1872).
The Artist and the Animal: A Loan Exhibition for the Benefit of the Animal Medical Center. M. Knoedler & Co., Inc., New York, NY (organizer) (May 7-24, 1968).
French Drawings. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (November 16, 1965-February 16, 1966).
Drawings: France, Italy, Netherlands. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (January 1-March 24, 1965).
European Watercolors Through the 18th Century. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (January 14-March 22, 1964).
Drawings. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (January 11-September 10, 1963).
The Nineteenth Century: One Hundred Twenty-Five Master Drawings. Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, NY (March 26-April 23, 1962).
Nineteenth Century: 125 Master Drawings. Frederick R. Weisman Art Museum, Minneapolis, MN (organizer) (March 26-April 23, 1962); Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, NY (May 10-June 30, 1962).
The Nineteenth Century: One Hundred Twenty-Five Master Drawings. Frederick R. Weisman Art Museum, Minneapolis, MN (organizer) (May 15-July 1, 1962).
Italian and French Drawings. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (October 13, 1959-February 2, 1960).
Department of Prints and Drawings Opening Exhibition. The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer) (March 3, 1958-October 11, 1959).
Baron Gros, Painter of Battles: The First Romantic Painter. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (March 8-April 15, 1956).
Watercolors by the Masters: Dürer to Cézanne. Minneapolis Institute of Art, Minneapolis, MN (organizer) (May 1-June 15, 1952).
19th-Century French Drawings. Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco, Legion of Honor, San Francisco, CA (organizer) (March 8-April 6, 1947).
19th and 20th Century French Art and Leonard C. Hanna, Jr. Loans. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (June 22-September 1, 1943).
Drawings from the Museum Collection. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (June 17-August 24, 1942).
French Drawings and Watercolors from French Public and Private Collections. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (January 6-February 15, 1942).
Drawings from the Museum Collection. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (July 11-October 3, 1940).
Old Master Drawings from the Museum Collection. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (January 4-March 26, 1939).
Drawings from the Museum Collection. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (May 28-December 9, 1937).
The Work of Théodore Géricault and Honoré Daumier. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (February 10-March 7, 1937).
Exhibition of Drawings from the Museum Collection Supplemented by Loans from Local Collections. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (July 12-September 15, 1935).
Drawings in the Classic and Romantic Tradition before 1830. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (December 7, 1932-January 8, 1933).
French Art Since Eighteen Hundred. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (November 8-December 8, 1929).
Paintings, Drawings, and Sculpture of the French School of the Last 100 Years. Burlington Fine Arts Club, London (1922).
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https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1929.13