Sketches of parts of a cat.
Photo © President and Fellows of Harvard College
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Photo © President and Fellows of Harvard College

Eleven sketches of parts of a cat in different positions and arranged in three lines across the paper. The first five drawings in the upper part and the left of the middle of the page are of a cat's head, mouth ajar, in seemingly playful positions. The lower five drawings are smaller renderings, two of the cat's rump, and three of the cat's whole body viewed from the front and back and side.

Identification and Creation

Object Number
1943.825
People
Théodore Géricault, French (Rouen 1791 - 1824 Paris)
Title
Studies of a Cat; verso: Study of a horse's hoof
Classification
Drawings
Work Type
drawing
Date
c. 1820-1821
Culture
French
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/297936

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Graphite with touches of black chalk on tan wove paper
Dimensions
32.2 × 40.3 cm (12 11/16 × 15 7/8 in.)
55.7 × 71 cm (21 15/16 × 27 15/16 in.)

Provenance

Recorded Ownership History
(?) Reiset, sold [through his sale, Hôtel Drouot, Paris, April 16, 1894, no. 42]. Baron Joseph Vitta, sold [via Martin Birnbaum]; to Grenville L. Winthrop, New York, 1937, bequest; to Fogg Art Museum, 1943

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line
Harvard Art Museums/Fogg Museum, Bequest of Grenville L. Winthrop
Accession Year
1943
Object Number
1943.825
Division
European and American Art
Contact
am_europeanamerican@harvard.edu
Permissions

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

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Publication History

  • Between the Empires: Géricault, Delacroix, Chassériau, exh. cat., Fogg Art Museum (Cambridge, MA, 1946), pg. 14
  • Klaus Berger, Géricault: Drawings and Watercolors, H. Bittner and Company (New York, 1946), no. 23, pl. 23
  • Haavard Rostrup, "Den hvide kat", Meddelelser fra Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek (1964), no. 21, pp. 34, 40 n. 12; repr. p. 41
  • Daniel M. Mendelowitz, Drawing, Holt, Rinehart & Winston (New York, NY, 1967), fig. 16-10
  • Frederick Malins, Drawing Ideas of the Masters: Artists' Techniques Compared and Contrasted, Phaidon Press (Oxford, England, 1981), no. 144, repro.
  • Nathan Goldstein, A Guide to 100 American and European Drawings: A Portfolio, Prentice-Hall (Englewood Cliffs, NJ, 1982), pl. 53
  • Lorenz Eitner, Géricault: His Life and Work, Orbis Publishing Ltd. (London, England, 1983), pg. 352, n. 98
  • François Bergot, Géricault, exh. cat., Journal Mainichi (Japan, 1987), pg. 157, under D-25
  • Germain Bazin, Théodore Géricault: Etude critique, documents, et catalogue raisonné, Wildenstein Institute (Paris, France, 1987 -1997), vol. 7, no. 2367, repr., also p. 33
  • Agnes Mongan, David to Corot: French Drawings in the Fogg Art Museum, Harvard University Press (Cambridge, MA, 1996), cat. no. 172, repr.
  • Alison West, From Pigalle to Préault: Neoclassicism and the Sublime in French Sculpture, 1760-1840, Cambridge University Press (Cambridge, England, 1998), p. 219 and repr. fig. 281
  • John T. Hayes, Thomas Gainsborough, exh. cat., Ferrara Arte SpA (Ferrara, Italy, 1998), under no. 57, p. 176 (no 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), cat. no. 41, repr. (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. 41, repr.
  • Stephen C. P. Gardner, Gateways to Drawing: A Complete Guide, Thames & Hudson (New York, 2018), pp.120-121, repr. p. 120 as fig. 5.6

Exhibition History

  • Between the Empires: Géricault, Delacroix, Chasseriau--Painters of the Romantic Movement, Fogg Art Museum, Cambridge, 04/30/1946 - 06/01/1946
  • Studies and Study Sheets, Fogg Art Museum, Cambridge, 03/26/1964 - 04/18/1964
  • 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
  • 32Q: 2200 19th Century, Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, 11/16/2014 - 03/04/2015
  • Mutiny: Works by Géricault, Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, 09/01/2018 - 01/06/2019

Subjects and Contexts

  • Google Art Project

Related Objects

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