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Identification and Creation

Object Number
2005.137
People
Théodore Géricault, French (Rouen 1791 - 1824 Paris)
Title
Four Studies of a Severed Head
Classification
Drawings
Work Type
drawing
Date
c. 1818
Culture
French
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/19180

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Graphite on cream laid paper
Dimensions
21 x 28.1 cm (8 1/4 x 11 1/16 in.)
Inscriptions and Marks
  • watermark: lower center : crown over crest, cut off
  • collector's mark: recto and verso: POD [Pierre Dubaut, Lugt. 2103b]

Provenance

Recorded Ownership History
A.M. Mahérault, possibly sold [through his sale, Hôtel Drouot, Paris, May 27-29, 1880, as part of lot 76]. General Mellinet, sold [through his sale, Hôtel Drouot, Paris, February 5, 1906, lot 108]. Pierre Dubaut, Paris (Lugt 2103b). [Saidenberg Gallery, New York]. Richard B. Sisson, after 1965, bequest; to Harvard University Art Museums, 2005

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line
Harvard Art Museums/Fogg Museum, Bequest of Richard B. Sisson and through the generosity of Anthony and Celeste Meier
Accession Year
2005
Object Number
2005.137
Division
European and American Art
Contact
am_europeanamerican@harvard.edu
Permissions

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Publication History

  • Charles Clément, Géricault; étude biographique et critique avec le Catalogue raisonné de l'oeuvre du maitre, Didier et cie. (Paris, France, 1879), no. 435
  • Exposition d'Oeuvres de Géricault au profit de La Société "La Sauvegarde de l'Art Français", exh. cat., Hôtel Jean Charpentier (Paris, 1924), no. 133
  • Galerie Bignou (Paris), Géricault, cet inconnu... (1791-1824): Aquarelles, gouaches, dessins..., exh. cat., Villain et Bar (Paris, 1950), no. 51
  • Théodore Géricault, 1791-1824, exh. cat., Marlborough Fine Art (London) Ltd (London, 1952), no. 54
  • Théodore Géricault 1791-1824, exh. cat., Kunstverein Winterthur (Winterthur, Switzerland, 1953), no. 184
  • Géricault dans le collections privées Françaises, exh. cat., Galerie Claude Aubry (Paris, 1964), no. 71
  • Lorenz Eitner, Géricault, exh. cat., Los Angeles County Museum of Art (Los Angeles, CA, 1971), no. 89, repr.
  • Charles Clément, Géricault. Etude biographique et critique avec le catalogue raisonné de l'oeuvre du maître, Léonce Laget (Paris, 1973), no. 435
  • Germain Bazin, Théodore Géricault: Etude critique, documents, et catalogue raisonné, Wildenstein Institute (Paris, France, 1987 -1997), vol. 6, no. 2050, repr.
  • Nina Athanassoglou-Kallmyer, "Géricault's Severed Heads and Limbs: The Politics and Aesthetics of the Scaffold", The Art Bulletin (December 1992), LXXIV, no. 4, pp 599-618, p. 602, fig. 4
  • Inken D. Knoch, "Une peinture sans sujet? Etude sur les 'Fragments anatomiques'", Géricault, ed. Régis Michel, Documentation Française (Paris, 1996), vol. 1, pp. 143-160, p. 151, fig. 52 (p. 201)
  • Harvard University Art Museums, Harvard University Art Museums Annual Report 2005-2006 (Cambridge, MA, 2007), p. 26, repr.
  • Bruno Chenique and Musée d'art Roger-Quilliot de Clermont-Ferrand, Géricault: Au Coeur de la Création Romantique. Etudes pour le radeau de la Méduse , exh. cat., Nicolas Chaudun (Paris, France, 2012), repr. p. 228, Fig. 24
  • Ewa Lajer-Burcharth and Elizabeth M. Rudy, ed., Drawing: The Invention of a Modern Medium, exh. cat., Harvard Art Museums (Cambridge, 2017), pp. 131, 283, repr. p. 131 as fig. 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)

Exhibition History

  • 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 Gericault: Peintre et Dessinateur, Galerie Bernheim Jeune, Paris, 05/10/1937 - 05/29/1937
  • Géricault, cet inconnu... (1791-1842): Aquarelles, gouaches, dessins..., Galerie Bignou (Paris), Paris, 05/19/1950 - 06/10/1950
  • Théodore Géricault 1791-1824, Marlborough Fine Art (London) Ltd, 10/01/1952 - 11/30/1952
  • Théodore Géricault 1791-1824, Kunstmuseum Winterthur, Winterthur, 08/30/1953 - 11/08/1953
  • Géricault dans les collections privées françaises, Galerie Claude Aubry, Paris, 11/06/1964 - 12/07/1964
  • Géricault, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, 10/12/1971 - 12/12/1971; Detroit Institute of Arts, Detroit, 01/23/1972 - 03/07/1972; Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, 03/30/1972 - 05/14/1972
  • Drawing: The Invention of a Modern Medium, Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, 01/21/2017 - 05/07/2017
  • Mutiny: Works by Géricault, Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, 09/01/2018 - 01/06/2019

Verification Level

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