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Flayed Horse I
Théodore Géricaultc. 1820/1824
National Gallery of Art, Washington DC
Washington, DC, United States
Details
- Title: Flayed Horse I
- Creator: Théodore Gericault
- Date Created: c. 1820/1824
- Physical Dimensions: overall: 23.2 x 21.7 x 11.7 cm (9 1/8 x 8 9/16 x 4 5/8 in.)
- Provenance: (Reportedly Gericault's Paris atelier sale, 2-3 November 1824); allegedly purchased by Susse.[1] Sold by spring 1867 to Maurice Cottier [d. before July 1882], Paris.[2] Madame Cottier, his widow, by 1889;[3] Cottier descendants, until February 1958; (Alex Reid & Lefèvre Ltd., London), by 1958;[4] purchased 25 October 1960 by Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon, Upperville, Virginia;[5] gift 1980 to NGA. [1] Lorenz A. Eitner, _Charles Clément: Géricault [sic]_, 1879 reprint with supplement, Paris, 1973: 325. As Laveissière in _Géricault [sic]_, Exh. cat. Galeries Nationales du Grand Palais, Paris, 1991: 335, notes, there is no documentary evidence to support that statement. No sculpture is listed in that sale (Lorenz A. Eitner, "The Sale of Géricault's [sic] Studio in 1824", _Gazette des Beaux Arts_, 6th per., 53, no. 108 [February 1959]: 115-126); the notes of the commissaire-priseur for the sale, maître Parmentier, are thought to have disappeared in the destruction of his office (Germain Bazin, _Théodore Géricault [sic]. Etude Critique, documents et catalogue raisonné_, 4 vols., Paris, 1987-1990: 1:9). To judge by the catalogue, the London sale of 3 November 1824 included only paintings and works on paper. Furthermore, Gericault's estate inventory lists only two wax equestrians and two hide-covered wood study models of a cow and bull (Bazin 1987-1990, 1:89, Doc. 299). "Monsieur" Susse may have bought the wax privately, though it is not clear if he is either Victor (J.-V. Susse, 1806-1860) or Amédée (J.V.-A. Susse, 1808-1880), who expanded their grandfather's paper business into an art-bronze enterprise (_Nineteenth Century French and Western European Sculpture in Bronze and Other Media_, Exh. cat. Shepherd Gallery, New York, 1985: 286). [2] Charles Clément, "Géricault [sic]", _Gazette des Beaux Arts_, 9th yr. (1 April 1867): 325. [3] Though the owner is not cited in the exhibition catalogue, Cottier's widow has been identified as the lender of the wax to the Exposition Centennale of 1889; see "Notable Works of Art Now on the Market", advertisement supplement section, _Burlington Magazine_ 102, no. 687 (June 1960): pl. 16. [4] "Notable Works" 1960, pl. 16. According to an anonymous memorandum dated 7 February 1974, documenting verbal information from Germain Bazin (Documentation du Département des Sculptures du Musée du Louvre, Paris ["Dossier Géricault-Ecorché"], R. F. 1657), followed by Laveissière in Géricault 1991, 335 (full citation in note 1), a "Mason" acquired the wax in February 1958 when it was released by the Cottiers. However, the source of that information and identity of the party are unknown. [5] In NGA curatorial files.
- Rights: CC0
- Medium: pigmented wax
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