Study for Caisson d'artillerie
Medium
Graphite with brown ink wash on ivory wove paper
Dimensions
22.2 × 28.5 cm (8 3/4 × 11 1/4 in.)
Classification
graphite
Department
Prints and Drawings
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
128097
Art Historical Context
In 1818, French Romantic artist Théodore Géricault created *Study for Caisson dillerie*, a preparatory drawing captures his fascination with dynamic motion and military subjects. Géricault, known for his monumental *Raft of the Medusa* (1819), often sketched horses in powerful, realistic poses, reflecting the Romantic era's emphasis on emotion, nature's raw energy, and human struggle. This work likely served as a study for a larger composition depicting an artillery caisson—a horse-drawn wagon for transporting cannon ammunition—evoking the chaos and heroism of Napoleonic warfare, which lingere...
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 ...