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Man Clutching a Horse in Water, after Poussin's "Deluge" (recto); Compositional Study? (possibly for "Poussin's Deluge") (verso)

Théodore Géricaultc. 1816

The Cleveland Museum of Art

The Cleveland Museum of Art
Cleveland, United States

Géricault's drawing of a man clutching the mane of a horse as they struggle together to stay afloat is a direct copy of a detail from one of Nicolas Poussin's (1594-1665) most celebrated paintings, The Deluge, or Winter (see photo). Small in scale but monumental in feeling, the sheet exemplifies the artist's "antique manner" of drawing, which he began to develop around 1815. This style, with its heavy contour lines and broad washes, developed in tandem with Géricault's renewed interest in copying works of art from the past, such as prints after ancient sculpture and works by Raphael (1483-1520), Michelangelo (1475-1564), and Poussin.

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  • Title: Man Clutching a Horse in Water, after Poussin's "Deluge" (recto); Compositional Study? (possibly for "Poussin's Deluge") (verso)
  • Creator: Théodore Géricault (French, 1791-1824), Nicolas Poussin (French, 1594-1665)
  • Date Created: c. 1816
  • Physical Dimensions: Sheet: 18 x 26.2 cm (7 1/16 x 10 5/16 in.)
  • Provenance: Unidentified collector's mark upper left; Coutan Hauguet Schubert Milliet collection (Lugt 464, stamped, lower left, in brown ink); [sale, Hôtel Drouot, Paris (16-17 December 1889), 50 no. 194: "Scène de Déluge. Etude d'apres Le Poussin. Dessin à la plume et à la sépia."]; Charmettant (according to Bazin, Charmettant purchased at Coutan-Hauguet sale for 80 francs). Marietta Peabody Tree and Ronald Tree [their sale, Sotheby-Parke-Bernet, New York (8-9 October 1976), no. 197, repr.]; [Shepherd Gallery, New York]; purchased in 1976.
  • Type: Drawing
  • Rights: CC0
  • External Link: https://clevelandart.org/art/2008.378
  • Medium: pen and brown ink and brush and brown wash over graphite
  • Department: Drawings
  • Culture: France, 19th century
  • Credit Line: Bequest of Muriel Butkin
  • Collection: DR - French
  • Accession Number: 2008.378
The Cleveland Museum of Art

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