Seated Italian Peasant
1816/1817
Medium
Watercolor, with black crayon and traces of pink gouache, over black chalk, on cream wove paper
Dimensions
25.8 × 21.3 cm (10 3/16 × 8 7/16 in.)
Classification
watercolor
Department
Prints and Drawings
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
104670
Art Historical Context
**Seated Italian Peasant**1816/1817) by Théodore Géricault captures the raw humanity of everyday life during the artist's formative travels in Italy. A leading figure of French Romanticism, Géric journeyed to Rome and Florence around this time, immersing himself in the works of Michelangelo and Caravaggio This intimate study reflects his fascination with the dignity of common folk, moving beyond classical ideals to portray the unvarnished vitality of a seated peasant—a theme that foreshadowed his monumental history paintings like *The Raft of the Medusa*. Executed in watercolor with black cra...
About the Artist
Jean Louis André Théodore Géricault · 1791–1824
Jean-Louis André Théodore Géricault (1791–1824) was born into a prosperous bourgeois family in Rouen, France, the son of a lawyer who managed the family tobacco business. After moving to Paris around 1797, his artistic talent emerged early, nurtured in a circle that included his maternal uncle Jean-Baptiste Caruel and art dealer Jean-Louis Laneuville. Géricault began formal training in 1808 under ...