Rather than applying finishing touches to make a polished cabinet picture, the artist left the painting in a state known as an esquisse, or sketch, a work prized by fellow artists and, increasingly, collectors, for its strength of directly capturing a subject or effect. The Painting: This vigorously executed painting, which depicts three adult male lions and three lionesses (or one lioness and two juvenile lions) in a mountainous lair, is an extraordinary example of Gericault’s spontaneous handling of paint. This was a prominent theme of the Romantic period during which Gericault worked. Lions were a link to the exotic and to the art of the past, but they also exemplified the concept of the Sublime, that is, the human experience of awe or terror before overwhelming natural forces. ![]() The artist also owed a fundamental debt to the prints of George Stubbs, as well as to the animal subjects of Peter Paul Rubens, which he had copied from paintings on view at the Louvre and from reproductive prints. He unquestionably sketched lions at the London zoo in 1820, during the second exhibition of The Raft of the Medusa (see fig. In 1817, Sultan Mulay Suleiman of Morocco sent King Louis XVIII two lions, and it is possible that Gericault was able to sketch them from life in Paris. He had a number of opportunities to study live animals. In the course of his career, Gericault produced numerous studies of one or more lions, as attested, for example, by a sketchbook datable to about 1812–14, in the Getty Museum, Los Angeles (inv. But they also evince indomitability, a quality fully embodied by lions and other felines. Domestic cats, like horses, can have a companionable side. ![]() Like horses, cats hold a special place in his work. ![]() From time to time, he showed interest in other animals-cattle, dogs, boars, and cats also drew his attention. Even in an era when horses were commonplace, Gericault’s sense of the equilibrium between horse and human was acute. He had an intimate knowledge of horses, which he derived not only from drawing and painting them continually but also from developing his skills as an equestrian. Gericault’s lifelong interest in animal themes is best known through his love of horses.
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