Harvard Art Museums / Fogg Museum | Busch-Reisinger Museum | Arthur M. Sackler Museum

While studying ancient and Renaissance art in Italy, Géricault took an interest in the scenes of everyday Italian life. In this painting, made after his return to France, he fuses those influences in a depiction of a Roman cattle market, where three men round up the animals for slaughter. Borrowing a practice from Roman reliefs, Géricault pushes the herdsmen, dogs, and cattle into the foreground. He renders them in a similar brushstroke and palette, blurring the distinction between man and beast and creating a stark contrast with the serene landscape in the background to highlight the violent turmoil of their encounter. Géricault painted this composition to various degrees of finish, leaving the underdrawing bare in the hoof of the gray bull, for example, which rests precipitously on the edge of a cylindrical stone.

Object Number

1943.242

People

Théodore Géricault, French (Rouen 1791 - 1824 Paris)

Title

Cattle Market

Other Titles

Alternate Title: The Bull Market / Subduing the Beeves
Original Language Title: Le Marché aux Bœufs

Classification

Paintings

Work Type

painting

Date

1818-1819

Culture

French

Persistent Link

https://hvrd.art/o/303728

Medium

Oil on paper mounted on canvas

Dimensions

59.5 x 50 cm (23 7/16 x 19 11/16 in.)
framed: 76.5 x 67.6 x 8.9 cm (30 1/8 x 26 5/8 x 3 1/2 in.)

Inscriptions and Marks

• inscription: verso, lower left of frame, impressed: M. GRIEVE CO / HAND CARVED / NEW YORK & LONDON
• seal: center stretcher, green wax: PD [intertwined, encircled
• inscription: verso, right side of frame, white chalk: Gericault
• inscription: center stretcher, white chalk: [illegible text]

Credit Line

Harvard Art Museums/Fogg Museum, Bequest of Grenville L. Winthrop

Accession Year

1943

Object Number

1943.242

Division

European and American Art

Contact

am_europeanamerican@harvard.edu

THIS WORK MAY NOT BE LENT BY THE TERMS OF ITS ACQUISITION TO THE HARVARD ART MUSEUMS.

The Harvard Art Museums encourage the use of images found on this website for personal, noncommercial use, including educational and scholarly purposes. To request a higher resolution file of this image, please submit an online request.

"Les Dessins de Géricault", Gazette des Beaux-Arts (January 1, 1874), series 2, 9, pp. 72-78, p. 74

Houssaye Henry, "Un Maître de l'ecole française: Théodore Géricault", La Revue des Deux Mondes (November 15, 1879), p. 390, p. 390

Charles Clément, Géricault; étude biographique et critique avec le Catalogue raisonné de l'oeuvre du maitre, Didier et cie. (Paris, France, 1879), p. 105; no. 95, pp. 299-300

Léon Rosenthal, La peinture romantique: essai sur l'évolution de la peinture française de 1815 à 1830, L. H. May (Paris, France, 1900), pp. 137-138

Léon Rosenthal, Géricault, Librairie de l'art ancien et moderne (Paris, France, 1905), pp. 75-76

Ernst Goldschmidt, Frankrigs Malerkunst (Copenhagen, Denmark, 1914-1953), vol. 6, pp. 83-84, repr.

Robert de la Sizeranne, "Géricault et le découverte du cheval", La Revue des Deux Mondes (May 1, 1924), p. 204, p. 204

Louis Vauxcelles, "La méthode et la leçon de Géricault", L'Art d'aujourd'hui (spring 1924-summer 1924), p. 31, p. 31

Léon Rosenthal, "L'Exposition du centenaire de Géricault", L'Amour de l'Art (June 1924), vol. 5, no. 6, pp. 203-206, p. 205

Otto Grautoff, "Théodore Géricault, zum 100. Todestag", Die Kunst für Alle (February 1924), 39, pp. 129-142, p. 136

Exposition d'oeuvre de Gericault: au profit de la Societe "La Sauvegarde de l'art francais", exh. cat., Galerie Charpentier (Paris, 1924), P. 53

Raymond Régamey, Géricault, F. Rieder & cie (Paris, France, 1926), p. 26

Duc de Trévise, "Théodore Gericault", The Arts (October 1927), 12, no. 4, pp. 183-200, pp. 192, 198, repr.

George Oprescu, Géricault, La Renaissance du Livre (Paris, France, 1927), pp. 22, 82-85, 87, 193

Henri Focillon, Le peinture au XIXe siècle: Le retour à l'antique - le romantisme, H. Laurens (Paris, France, 1927), vol. I, p. 186

Jeanne Magnin, Les débuts du romantisme a la Maison Victor Hugo (Dijon, France, 1927), p. 186

Jacques Victor de Laprade, "Une magnifique exposition d'oeuvres de Géricault a été organisée par la Sauvegarde de l'art français", Beaux Arts Magazine (May 14, 1937), p. 8, p. 8

Exposition Géricault, exh. cat., Galerie Bernheim Jeune (Paris, France, 1937), repr., no. 40

Duc de Trévise, "European Auctions: Duc de Trévise, XIX Century French Painting", Art News (April 2 1938), vol. 36, no. 27, p. 22, p. 22

"La collection du duc de Trévise", Beaux Arts Magazine (April 29 1938), p. 7, p. 7

Catalogue des tableaux et dessins du XIXme siècle par Carpeaux, Chasseriau, Corot, Delacroix, oeuvres importantes de Géricault..., auct. cat., Galerie Jean Charpentier (Paris, May 19, 1938), p. 26, lot 26

Pierre Courthion, "Passage de Géricault", Minotaure (May 1939), pp. 23-24, p. 24

Frederick Antal, "Reflections on Classicism and Romanticism-- III-- IV", The Burlington Magazine (September 1940), 77, pp. 72-80, p. 79, repr. as pl. 1d

Walter Pach, "Géricault in America", Gazette des Beaux-Arts (April 1945), series 6, 27, pp. 227-240, p. 238

Maurice Pierre Boyé, La mêlée romantique, R. Julliard (Paris, France, 1946), p. 58

Pierre Cailles, ed., Géricault reconté par lui-même et par ses amis (Geneva, Switzerland, 1947), p. 350, repr. opposite p. 128

Géricault, raconté par lui-même et par ses amis, P. Cailler (Geneva, Switzerland, 1947), p. 191, repr. in b/w facing p. 128

Walter Friedlaender, David to Delacroix (Cambridge, MA, 1952), p. 98, repr. as fig. 54

Klaus Berger, Géricault und sein werk, A. Schroll (Vienna, Austria, 1952), pp. 17, 69, repr. pl. 32

Germain Seligman, [Review of Berger's "Gericault und sein Werk"], The Art Bulletin (December 1953), 35, pp. 320-326, pp. 323-324

"Géricault", Sele Arte (November 1954-December 1954), vol. 3, no. 15, pp. 37-45, p. 40, repr.

Denise Aimé-Azam, "Le tragique secret de Théodore Géricault", Journal de l'amateur d'art (February 10 1954-March 10 1954), pp. 160, 179, 342

Michel Florisoone, "Moratin, Inspirer of Géricault and Delacroix", The Burlington Magazine (September 1957), 99, pp. 302-309, p. 302, fig. 20; pp. 307-308, n. 18

Pierre Dubaut, "Géricault, cet ami", Jardin des Arts (December 1958), no. 53, pp. 83-89, p. 87

Robert Lebel, "Géricault: Ses ambitions monumentales et l'inspiration italienne", L'Arte (October 1960-November 1960), 59, pp. 327-329, pp. 334, 336, 341 n. 26, 342 n. 36, repr. as fig. 13

Lorenz Eitner, Gericault: an Album of Drawings in the Art Institute of Chicago, University of Chicago Press (Chicago, IL, 1960), pp. 14, 19

Jean Leymarie, French Painting, the Nineteenth Century, Editions d'Art Albert Skira (Geneva, Switzerland, 1962), pp. 63-65; repr. in color p. 61

Antonio Del Guercio, Géricault, Il Club del Libro (Milan, Italy, 1963), pp. 42, 236, repr. in color detail, tav. XIV

N. V. Prokoviev, Géricault (Moscow, 1963), repr. p. 120

Antonio Del Guercio, Theodore Gericault, Fratelli Fabbri Editori (Milan, Italy, 1965), repr. no. XVII

René Jullian, "Géricault et l'Italie", Arte in Europa: Scritta di storia dell'arte in onore di Edoardo Arslan, Tipografia Artiop (Milan, Italy, 1966), pp. 897-902, p. 900

Frederick Antal, Classicism and Romanticism, Routledge and Kegan Paul (London, England, 1966), p. 32, repr. fig. 28b

Günter Busch, "Kopien von Théodore Gericault nach alten Meistern", Pantheon (May 1967-June 1967), vol. XXV, no. 3, pp. 176-184, p. 184

Antonio Del Guercio, "Une recherche anxieuse du thème de l'energie", Chefs-d'oeuvre de l'art (October 1967), repr. as pl. 4

Denise Aimé-Azam, La Passion de Géricault, Fayard (Paris, France, 1970), pp. 174, 193, 363

Hans A. Lüthy, "Géricault in Los Angeles", Neue Zurcher Zeitung (November 20 1971), p. 35, p. 35

Lorenz Eitner, Géricault, exh. cat., Los Angeles County Museum of Art (Los Angeles, CA, 1971), p. 21

Lorenz Eitner, Gericault's "Raft of the Medusa", Phaidon (London, England, 1972), p. 18, n. 17

Yasushi Inoue, ed., Les Grands Maitres de la Peinture Moderne v. 3: Ingres et Delacroix, Japan Art Center (Tokyo, Japan, 1972), repr. in color pl. 10

Andrew Forge, "New and Recent Art Books: Géricault's Raft of the Medusa by Lorenz Eitner", Studio International (July 1973-August 1973), vol. 186, no. 957, p. 50, p. 50

Joanna Szczepinska-Tramer, "Recherches sur les paysages de Géricault", Bulletin de la Societe de l'Histoire de l'Art francais (1973), pp. 299-317, p. 303

Philippe Grunchec, All the Paintings of Théodore Géricault, Rizzoli (New York, NY, 1976), repr. in color

René Huyghe, La relève de l'imaginaire: la peinture francaise au XIXe siecle: realisme, romantisme, Flammarion (Paris, France, 1976), repr. p. 157 as fig. 172

Henri Zerner, "Théodore Géricault: Artist of Man and Beast", Apollo (June 1978), vol. CVII, no. 196, pp. 480-486, pp. 481-482, repr. as color plate XVI

Philippe Grunchec and Jacques Thuillier, L'Opera Completa di Gericault, Rizzoli Editore (Milan, Italy, 1978), no. 119, p. 105; repr. b/w p. 104; color tav. XXV

Géricault, exh. cat., Edizioni dell'Elefante (Rome, Italy, 1979), p. 54; p. 294, under no. 63

Lynn R. Matteson, "Observations on Géricault and Pinelli", Pantheon (January 1980-March 1980), vol. 38, pp. 74-78, p. 76, repr. as fig. 7

Lorenz Eitner, Géricault: His Life and Work, Orbis Publishing Ltd. (London, England, 1983), pl. 24 p. 305, repr. in color. text 139 ff, 339, note 11f

Kristin A. Mortimer and William G. Klingelhofer, Harvard University Art Museums: A Guide to the Collections, Harvard University Art Museums and Abbeville Press (Cambridge and New York, 1986), no. 202, p. 178, repr. in b/w

François Bergot, Géricault, exh. cat., Journal Mainichi (Japan, 1987), pp. 48, 75

Germain Bazin, Théodore Géricault: Etude critique, documents, et catalogue raisonné, Wildenstein Institute (Paris, France, 1987 -1997), no. 1219, pp. 144-145, repr. in color p. 145

Louis-Antoine Prat, Dessins de Théodore Chassériau : 1819-1856, Editions de la Réunion des Musées Nationaux (Paris, France, 1988), p. 275, repr. in b/w

Lorenz Eitner, Géricault, 1791-1824, exh. cat., Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco (San Francisco, CA, 1989), pp. 23, 37

Edgar Peters Bowron, European Paintings Before 1900 in the Fogg Art Museum: A Summary Catalogue including Paintings in the Busch-Reisinger Museum, Harvard University Art Museums (Cambridge, MA, 1990), p 68, color plate; pp. 108, 225, repr. b/w cat. no. 272

Pascale Thuillant, "A L'Aube du Realisme", Dossier de l'Art (October 1991-November 1991), no. 4, pp. 16-25, p. 22, repr. in color

Sylvain Laveissière and Régis Michel, Gericault, exh. cat., Editions de la Réunion des Musées Nationaux (Paris, France, 1991), repr. b/w no. 161; cf. no. 110 p. 358 (drawing); mentioned p. 88

Jean Sagne, Géricault (Paris, France, 1991), pp. 123-124, repr.

Bernard Noël, Géricault (Paris, France, 1991), pp. 28, 91

Régis Michel, Gericault l'invention du reel, Decouvertes Gallimard/Reunion des Musées Nationaux (Paris, France, 1992), p. 47; repr. in color p. 46

[Reproduction only], Studies in Romanticism, The Graduate School, Boston University (Boston, MA, Summer 1994 - Winter 1994)., repr. on cover, b/w

Barbara Maria Stafford, Artful Science: Enlightenment, Entertainment,and the Eclipse of Visual Education, MIT Press (Cambridge, MA, 1994), repr. in b/w p. 87, fig. 68

Albert Boime, "Géricault's 'African Slave Trade' and the Physiognomy of the Oppressed", Géricault, ed. Régis Michel, Documentation Française (Paris, France, 1996), vol. 2, pp. 561-593, pp. 579, 589

Michael Fried, "Géricault's Romanticism", Géricault, ed. Régis Michel, Documentation Française (Paris, France, 1996), pp. 653, 706, repr. as fig. 307

Régis Michel, "'Géricault wird geschlagen': Nachgeschichtliche Meditationen über den Trug des Subjektes", ed. Stefan Germer, Klinkhardt & Biermann (Munich, Germany, 1997), p. 212, 220, repr. as fig. 86

Wheelock Whitney, Gericault in Italy, Yale University Press (New Haven, CT and London, England, 1997), pp. 54, 70, 71, 76, 80, 82, 83-87, 155, 198, 200, repr. in color as fig. 115

Alfredo de Paz, Géricault, la febbre dell'arte e della vita, Liguori Editore (Naples, Italy, 1997), pp. 92-94, 251, repr. in color as pl. 29

Masterpieces of world art : Fogg Art Museum, Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Busch-Reisinger Museum, 1997

Susan L. Siegfried, "Géricault in Rome: Drawing and Monumentality", ed. Margret Stuffmann, Walther König (Cologne, 2001), p. 209; repr. in b/w as fig. 19, p. 208

Chikashi Kitazaki and Mina Oya, ed., Between Reality and Dreams: Nineteenth Century British and French Art from the Winthrop Collection of the Fogg Art Museum, exh. cat., National Museum of Western Art (Ueno, 2002), pp. 76-77, cat. #6, color repr.

Stephan Wolohojian, ed., A Private Passion: 19th-Century Paintings and Drawings from the Grenville L. Winthrop Collection, Harvard University, exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art and Yale University Press (U.S.) (New York, 2003), no. 36, pp. 121-123, repr. in color

Stephan Wolohojian, Ingres, Burne-Jones, Whistler, Renoir... La Collection Grenville L. Winthrop, exh. cat., Musée des Beaux-Arts de Lyon and Réunion des Musées Nationaux (Paris, France, 2003), no. 35, pp. 126-128, repr. in color

Robert Dupin, "La Collection Winthrop", Universalia, Encyclopaedia Universalis (Paris, France, 2004), pp. 343-344, p. 344, repr. p. 343

Robert Rosenblum, 19th Century Art, Pearson Prentice Hall (Upper Saddle River, NJ, 2005), pp. 127-128, repr. in color as fig. 113

Manuela Mena Marqués, ed., Goya en tiempos de guerra, exh. cat., Ediciones El Viso (Madrid, 2008), repr. in color as Fig. 34 on p. 91

Nina Athanassoglou-Kallmyer, Théodore Géricault, exh. cat., Phaidon (New York, NY, 2010), p. 60, repr. p. 48 (detail) and p. 61 as fig. 55

Louis-Antoine Prat, Le dessin français au XIXe siècle, Somogy Éditions d'Art (Paris, 2011), pp. 135, 136

Paintings, Drawings, and Oil Sketches 1810-1930, auct. cat., W. M. Brady & Co., Inc. (New York, 2016), under cat. no. 4

"Géricault's Staying Power", Index Magazine ([e-journal], August 13, 2018), https://www.harvardartmuseums.org/article/gericault-s-staying-power, accessed August 15, 2018

M. J. Andersen, "'Mutiny: Works by Géricault' Review: Equine Passions and Anxieties", The Wall Street Journal (September 10, 2018), repr.

Exposition au profit des Alsaciens-Lorrains en Algèrie, Palais de la Présidence du Corps Legislatif, Paris, 04/23/1874 - 04/23/1874

Exposition d'Oeuvres de Géricault: au Profit de la Societé La Sauvegarde de l'Art Français, Galerie Charpentier, Paris, 04/24/1924 - 05/16/1924

Exposition de la jeunesse de Romantiques, Maison de Victor Hugo, Paris, 05/18/1927 - 06/30/1927

Exposition Gros: Ses amis, ses élèves, Petit Palais, Paris, Paris, 05/01/1936 - 07/31/1936

Exposition Gericault: Peintre et Dessinateur, Galerie Bernheim Jeune, Paris, 05/10/1937 - 05/29/1937

Master Paintings from the Fogg Collection, Fogg Art Museum, Cambridge, 04/13/1977 - 08/31/1977

Masterpieces of European Art, Busch-Reisinger Museum, Cambridge, 06/22/1985 - 09/15/1985

Between Reality and Dreams: Nineteenth Century British and French Art from the Winthrop Collection of the Fogg Art Museum, National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo, 09/14/2002 - 12/08/2002

A Private Passion: 19th-Century Paintings and Drawings from the Grenville L. Winthrop Collection, Harvard University, Musée des Beaux-Arts de Lyon, Lyon, 03/15/2003 - 05/26/2003; National Gallery, London, 06/25/2003 - 09/14/2003; The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 10/23/2003 - 01/25/2004

For Students of Art and Lovers of Beauty: Highlights from the Collection of Grenville L. Winthrop, Harvard University Art Museums, Fogg Art Museum, Cambridge, 04/16/2004

HAA 10 Survey Course (S421): The Western Tradition: Art Since the Renaissance (Fall 08 Rotation 1), Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, 09/13/2008 - 10/19/2008

HAA 10 Survey Course (S421): The Western Tradition: Art Since the Renaissance (Fall 09 Rotation 1), Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Cambridge, 09/02/2009 - 10/12/2009

HAA 10 Survey Course (S421): The Western Tradition: Art Since the Renaissance (Fall 10 Rotation 1), Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Cambridge, 09/10/2010 - 10/09/2010

HAA 10 Survey Course (S421): The Western Tradition: Art Since the Renaissance (Fall 11 Rotation 1), Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, 09/06/2011 - 10/01/2011

32Q: 2200 19th Century, Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, 11/16/2014 - 07/12/2018; Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, 03/19/2019 - 01/01/2050

Mutiny: Works by Géricault, Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, 09/01/2018 - 01/06/2019

Google Art Project

• 2021.192

  Théodore Géricault

  Portrait of Olivier Bro

  Paintings

This record has been reviewed by the curatorial staff but may be incomplete. Our records are frequently revised and enhanced. For more information please contact the Division of European and American Art at am_europeanamerican@harvard.edu