The Return from Russia
Medium
Lithograph in black with tan tint stone on ivory wove paper
Dimensions
Image: 44.4 × 36.1 cm (17 1/2 × 14 1/4 in.); Sheet: 58.7 × 41.9 cm (23 1/8 × 16 1/2 in.)
Classification
lithograph
Department
Prints and Drawings
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
75089
Rights
Public Domain
About this artwork
This print centers on two wounded soldiers as they return from the disastrous French invasion of Russia. In 1812 the French army, led by Napoleon, fought its way into Russian territory, beginning a bloody campaign that lasted five months and ended in a decisive loss for the French that decimated the size of the force as well as public faith in the French military.
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 ...