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Three men wielding stick among crowd of bulls

A crowd of gray and brown bulls is gathered on a patio behind a wood fence. Three light-skinned men stand among them. The men on the right and left are nude. The center man is clothed. He and the left-most man have red cloths over their shoulders. All three men are grabbing the bulls by the horns or legs. The left and central men hold sticks, and their arms are posed as if preparing to strike. The bull closest to the foreground has fallen to the ground. Behind the crowd is a pasture with a mountain in the distance.

Gallery Text

While studying ancient and Renaissance art in Italy, Géricault took an interest in the scenes of everyday Italian life. In this painting, made after his return to France, he fuses those influences in a depiction of a Roman cattle market, where three men round up the animals for slaughter. Borrowing a practice from Roman reliefs, Géricault pushes the herdsmen, dogs, and cattle into the foreground. He renders them in a similar brushstroke and palette, blurring the distinction between man and beast and creating a stark contrast with the serene landscape in the background to highlight the violent turmoil of their encounter. Géricault painted this composition to various degrees of finish, leaving the underdrawing bare in the hoof of the gray bull, for example, which rests precipitously on the edge of a cylindrical stone.

Identification and Creation

Object Number
1943.242
People
Théodore Géricault, French (Rouen 1791 - 1824 Paris)
Title
Cattle Market
Other Titles
Alternate Title: The Bull Market / Subduing the Beeves
Original Language Title: Le Marché aux Bœufs
Classification
Paintings
Work Type
painting
Date
1818-1819
Culture
French
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/303728

Location

Location
Level 2, Room 2200, European and American Art, 17th–19th century, The Emergence of Romanticism in Early Nineteenth-Century France
View this object's location on our interactive map

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Oil on paper mounted on canvas
Dimensions
59.5 x 50 cm (23 7/16 x 19 11/16 in.)
framed: 76.5 x 67.6 x 8.9 cm (30 1/8 x 26 5/8 x 3 1/2 in.)
Inscriptions and Marks
  • inscription: verso, lower left of frame, impressed: M. GRIEVE CO / HAND CARVED / NEW YORK & LONDON
  • seal: center stretcher, green wax: PD [intertwined, encircled
  • inscription: verso, right side of frame, white chalk: Gericault
  • inscription: center stretcher, white chalk: [illegible text]

Provenance

Recorded Ownership History
Couvreur. Victomte de Lamoignon. Duchesse de Galliéra. Pierre-Olivier Dubaut. Édouard Napoléon César Edmond Mortier de Trévise, duc de Trévise, by 1924, [1] sold [through his sale, Galerie Charpentier, commissaire-priseur Alph. Bellier, Paris, May 19, 1938, lot 26]; to Grenville L. Winthrop [through Martin Birnbaum], New York, NY, bequest; to Fogg Art Museum, 1943

[1] The 1924 exhibition at the Hotel Jean Charpentier lists "Collection T..."

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line
Harvard Art Museums/Fogg Museum, Bequest of Grenville L. Winthrop
Accession Year
1943
Object Number
1943.242
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

  • "Les Dessins de Géricault", Gazette des Beaux-Arts (January 1, 1874), series 2, 9, pp. 72-78, p. 74
  • Houssaye Henry, "Un Maître de l'ecole française: Théodore Géricault", La Revue des Deux Mondes (November 15, 1879), p. 390, p. 390
  • Charles Clément, Géricault; étude biographique et critique avec le Catalogue raisonné de l'oeuvre du maitre, Didier et cie. (Paris, France, 1879), p. 105; no. 95, pp. 299-300
  • Léon Rosenthal, La peinture romantique: essai sur l'évolution de la peinture française de 1815 à 1830, L. H. May (Paris, France, 1900), pp. 137-138
  • Léon Rosenthal, Géricault, Librairie de l'art ancien et moderne (Paris, France, 1905), pp. 75-76
  • Ernst Goldschmidt, Frankrigs Malerkunst (Copenhagen, Denmark, 1914-1953), vol. 6, pp. 83-84, repr.
  • Robert de la Sizeranne, "Géricault et le découverte du cheval", La Revue des Deux Mondes (May 1, 1924), p. 204, p. 204
  • Louis Vauxcelles, "La méthode et la leçon de Géricault", L'Art d'aujourd'hui (spring 1924-summer 1924), p. 31, p. 31
  • Léon Rosenthal, "L'Exposition du centenaire de Géricault", L'Amour de l'Art (June 1924), vol. 5, no. 6, pp. 203-206, p. 205
  • Otto Grautoff, "Théodore Géricault, zum 100. Todestag", Die Kunst für Alle (February 1924), 39, pp. 129-142, p. 136
  • Exposition d'oeuvre de Gericault: au profit de la Societe "La Sauvegarde de l'art francais", exh. cat., Galerie Charpentier (Paris, 1924), P. 53
  • Raymond Régamey, Géricault, F. Rieder & cie (Paris, France, 1926), p. 26
  • Duc de Trévise, "Théodore Gericault", The Arts (October 1927), 12, no. 4, pp. 183-200, pp. 192, 198, repr.
  • George Oprescu, Géricault, La Renaissance du Livre (Paris, France, 1927), pp. 22, 82-85, 87, 193
  • Henri Focillon, Le peinture au XIXe siècle: Le retour à l'antique - le romantisme, H. Laurens (Paris, France, 1927), vol. I, p. 186
  • Jeanne Magnin, Les débuts du romantisme a la Maison Victor Hugo (Dijon, France, 1927), p. 186
  • Jacques Victor de Laprade, "Une magnifique exposition d'oeuvres de Géricault a été organisée par la Sauvegarde de l'art français", Beaux Arts Magazine (May 14, 1937), p. 8, p. 8
  • Exposition Géricault, exh. cat., Galerie Bernheim Jeune (Paris, France, 1937), repr., no. 40
  • Duc de Trévise, "European Auctions: Duc de Trévise, XIX Century French Painting", Art News (April 2 1938), vol. 36, no. 27, p. 22, p. 22
  • "La collection du duc de Trévise", Beaux Arts Magazine (April 29 1938), p. 7, p. 7
  • Catalogue des tableaux et dessins du XIXme siècle par Carpeaux, Chasseriau, Corot, Delacroix, oeuvres importantes de Géricault..., auct. cat., Galerie Jean Charpentier (Paris, May 19, 1938), p. 26, lot 26
  • Pierre Courthion, "Passage de Géricault", Minotaure (May 1939), pp. 23-24, p. 24
  • Frederick Antal, "Reflections on Classicism and Romanticism-- III-- IV", The Burlington Magazine (September 1940), 77, pp. 72-80, p. 79, repr. as pl. 1d
  • Walter Pach, "Géricault in America", Gazette des Beaux-Arts (April 1945), series 6, 27, pp. 227-240, p. 238
  • Maurice Pierre Boyé, La mêlée romantique, R. Julliard (Paris, France, 1946), p. 58
  • Pierre Cailles, ed., Géricault reconté par lui-même et par ses amis (Geneva, Switzerland, 1947), p. 350, repr. opposite p. 128
  • Géricault, raconté par lui-même et par ses amis, P. Cailler (Geneva, Switzerland, 1947), p. 191, repr. in b/w facing p. 128
  • Walter Friedlaender, David to Delacroix (Cambridge, MA, 1952), p. 98, repr. as fig. 54
  • Klaus Berger, Géricault und sein werk, A. Schroll (Vienna, Austria, 1952), pp. 17, 69, repr. pl. 32
  • Germain Seligman, [Review of Berger's "Gericault und sein Werk"], The Art Bulletin (December 1953), 35, pp. 320-326, pp. 323-324
  • "Géricault", Sele Arte (November 1954-December 1954), vol. 3, no. 15, pp. 37-45, p. 40, repr.
  • Denise Aimé-Azam, "Le tragique secret de Théodore Géricault", Journal de l'amateur d'art (February 10 1954-March 10 1954), pp. 160, 179, 342
  • Michel Florisoone, "Moratin, Inspirer of Géricault and Delacroix", The Burlington Magazine (September 1957), 99, pp. 302-309, p. 302, fig. 20; pp. 307-308, n. 18
  • Pierre Dubaut, "Géricault, cet ami", Jardin des Arts (December 1958), no. 53, pp. 83-89, p. 87
  • Robert Lebel, "Géricault: Ses ambitions monumentales et l'inspiration italienne", L'Arte (October 1960-November 1960), 59, pp. 327-329, pp. 334, 336, 341 n. 26, 342 n. 36, repr. as fig. 13
  • Lorenz Eitner, Gericault: an Album of Drawings in the Art Institute of Chicago, University of Chicago Press (Chicago, IL, 1960), pp. 14, 19
  • Jean Leymarie, French Painting, the Nineteenth Century, Editions d'Art Albert Skira (Geneva, Switzerland, 1962), pp. 63-65; repr. in color p. 61
  • Antonio Del Guercio, Géricault, Il Club del Libro (Milan, Italy, 1963), pp. 42, 236, repr. in color detail, tav. XIV
  • N. V. Prokoviev, Géricault (Moscow, 1963), repr. p. 120
  • Antonio Del Guercio, Theodore Gericault, Fratelli Fabbri Editori (Milan, Italy, 1965), repr. no. XVII
  • René Jullian, "Géricault et l'Italie", Arte in Europa: Scritta di storia dell'arte in onore di Edoardo Arslan, Tipografia Artiop (Milan, Italy, 1966), pp. 897-902, p. 900
  • Frederick Antal, Classicism and Romanticism, Routledge and Kegan Paul (London, England, 1966), p. 32, repr. fig. 28b
  • Günter Busch, "Kopien von Théodore Gericault nach alten Meistern", Pantheon (May 1967-June 1967), vol. XXV, no. 3, pp. 176-184, p. 184
  • Antonio Del Guercio, "Une recherche anxieuse du thème de l'energie", Chefs-d'oeuvre de l'art (October 1967), repr. as pl. 4
  • Denise Aimé-Azam, La Passion de Géricault, Fayard (Paris, France, 1970), pp. 174, 193, 363
  • Hans A. Lüthy, "Géricault in Los Angeles", Neue Zurcher Zeitung (November 20 1971), p. 35, p. 35
  • Lorenz Eitner, Géricault, exh. cat., Los Angeles County Museum of Art (Los Angeles, CA, 1971), p. 21
  • Lorenz Eitner, Gericault's "Raft of the Medusa", Phaidon (London, England, 1972), p. 18, n. 17
  • Yasushi Inoue, ed., Les Grands Maitres de la Peinture Moderne v. 3: Ingres et Delacroix, Japan Art Center (Tokyo, Japan, 1972), repr. in color pl. 10
  • Andrew Forge, "New and Recent Art Books: Géricault's Raft of the Medusa by Lorenz Eitner", Studio International (July 1973-August 1973), vol. 186, no. 957, p. 50, p. 50
  • Joanna Szczepinska-Tramer, "Recherches sur les paysages de Géricault", Bulletin de la Societe de l'Histoire de l'Art francais (1973), pp. 299-317, p. 303
  • Philippe Grunchec, All the Paintings of Théodore Géricault, Rizzoli (New York, NY, 1976), repr. in color
  • René Huyghe, La relève de l'imaginaire: la peinture francaise au XIXe siecle: realisme, romantisme, Flammarion (Paris, France, 1976), repr. p. 157 as fig. 172
  • Henri Zerner, "Théodore Géricault: Artist of Man and Beast", Apollo (June 1978), vol. CVII, no. 196, pp. 480-486, pp. 481-482, repr. as color plate XVI
  • Philippe Grunchec and Jacques Thuillier, L'Opera Completa di Gericault, Rizzoli Editore (Milan, Italy, 1978), no. 119, p. 105; repr. b/w p. 104; color tav. XXV
  • Géricault, exh. cat., Edizioni dell'Elefante (Rome, Italy, 1979), p. 54; p. 294, under no. 63
  • Lynn R. Matteson, "Observations on Géricault and Pinelli", Pantheon (January 1980-March 1980), vol. 38, pp. 74-78, p. 76, repr. as fig. 7
  • Lorenz Eitner, Géricault: His Life and Work, Orbis Publishing Ltd. (London, England, 1983), pl. 24 p. 305, repr. in color. text 139 ff, 339, note 11f
  • Kristin A. Mortimer and William G. Klingelhofer, Harvard University Art Museums: A Guide to the Collections, Harvard University Art Museums and Abbeville Press (Cambridge and New York, 1986), no. 202, p. 178, repr. in b/w
  • François Bergot, Géricault, exh. cat., Journal Mainichi (Japan, 1987), pp. 48, 75
  • Germain Bazin, Théodore Géricault: Etude critique, documents, et catalogue raisonné, Wildenstein Institute (Paris, France, 1987 -1997), no. 1219, pp. 144-145, repr. in color p. 145
  • Louis-Antoine Prat, Dessins de Théodore Chassériau : 1819-1856, Editions de la Réunion des Musées Nationaux (Paris, France, 1988), p. 275, repr. in b/w
  • Lorenz Eitner, Géricault, 1791-1824, exh. cat., Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco (San Francisco, CA, 1989), pp. 23, 37
  • Edgar Peters Bowron, European Paintings Before 1900 in the Fogg Art Museum: A Summary Catalogue including Paintings in the Busch-Reisinger Museum, Harvard University Art Museums (Cambridge, MA, 1990), p 68, color plate; pp. 108, 225, repr. b/w cat. no. 272
  • Pascale Thuillant, "A L'Aube du Realisme", Dossier de l'Art (October 1991-November 1991), no. 4, pp. 16-25, p. 22, repr. in color
  • Sylvain Laveissière and Régis Michel, Gericault, exh. cat., Editions de la Réunion des Musées Nationaux (Paris, France, 1991), repr. b/w no. 161; cf. no. 110 p. 358 (drawing); mentioned p. 88
  • Jean Sagne, Géricault (Paris, France, 1991), pp. 123-124, repr.
  • Bernard Noël, Géricault (Paris, France, 1991), pp. 28, 91
  • Régis Michel, Gericault l'invention du reel, Decouvertes Gallimard/Reunion des Musées Nationaux (Paris, France, 1992), p. 47; repr. in color p. 46
  • [Reproduction only], Studies in Romanticism, The Graduate School, Boston University (Boston, MA, Summer 1994 - Winter 1994)., repr. on cover, b/w
  • Barbara Maria Stafford, Artful Science: Enlightenment, Entertainment,and the Eclipse of Visual Education, MIT Press (Cambridge, MA, 1994), repr. in b/w p. 87, fig. 68
  • Albert Boime, "Géricault's 'African Slave Trade' and the Physiognomy of the Oppressed", Géricault, ed. Régis Michel, Documentation Française (Paris, France, 1996), vol. 2, pp. 561-593, pp. 579, 589
  • Michael Fried, "Géricault's Romanticism", Géricault, ed. Régis Michel, Documentation Française (Paris, France, 1996), pp. 653, 706, repr. as fig. 307
  • Régis Michel, "'Géricault wird geschlagen': Nachgeschichtliche Meditationen über den Trug des Subjektes", ed. Stefan Germer, Klinkhardt & Biermann (Munich, Germany, 1997), p. 212, 220, repr. as fig. 86
  • Wheelock Whitney, Gericault in Italy, Yale University Press (New Haven, CT and London, England, 1997), pp. 54, 70, 71, 76, 80, 82, 83-87, 155, 198, 200, repr. in color as fig. 115
  • Alfredo de Paz, Géricault, la febbre dell'arte e della vita, Liguori Editore (Naples, Italy, 1997), pp. 92-94, 251, repr. in color as pl. 29
  • Masterpieces of world art : Fogg Art Museum, Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Busch-Reisinger Museum, 1997
  • Susan L. Siegfried, "Géricault in Rome: Drawing and Monumentality", ed. Margret Stuffmann, Walther König (Cologne, 2001), p. 209; repr. in b/w as fig. 19, p. 208
  • Chikashi Kitazaki and Mina Oya, ed., Between Reality and Dreams: Nineteenth Century British and French Art from the Winthrop Collection of the Fogg Art Museum, exh. cat., National Museum of Western Art (Ueno, 2002), pp. 76-77, cat. #6, color 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), no. 36, pp. 121-123, repr. in 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. 35, pp. 126-128, repr. in color
  • Robert Dupin, "La Collection Winthrop", Universalia, Encyclopaedia Universalis (Paris, France, 2004), pp. 343-344, p. 344, repr. p. 343
  • Robert Rosenblum, 19th Century Art, Pearson Prentice Hall (Upper Saddle River, NJ, 2005), pp. 127-128, repr. in color as fig. 113
  • Manuela Mena Marqués, ed., Goya en tiempos de guerra, exh. cat., Ediciones El Viso (Madrid, 2008), repr. in color as Fig. 34 on p. 91
  • Nina Athanassoglou-Kallmyer, Théodore Géricault, exh. cat., Phaidon (New York, NY, 2010), p. 60, repr. p. 48 (detail) and p. 61 as fig. 55
  • Louis-Antoine Prat, Le dessin français au XIXe siècle, Somogy Éditions d'Art (Paris, 2011), pp. 135, 136
  • Paintings, Drawings, and Oil Sketches 1810-1930, auct. cat., W. M. Brady & Co., Inc. (New York, 2016), under cat. no. 4
  • "Géricault's Staying Power", Index Magazine ([e-journal], August 13, 2018), https://www.harvardartmuseums.org/article/gericault-s-staying-power, accessed August 15, 2018
  • M. J. Andersen, "'Mutiny: Works by Géricault' Review: Equine Passions and Anxieties", The Wall Street Journal (September 10, 2018), repr.

Exhibition History

  • Exposition au profit des Alsaciens-Lorrains en Algèrie, Palais de la Présidence du Corps Legislatif, Paris, 04/23/1874 - 04/23/1874
  • Exposition d'Oeuvres de Géricault: au Profit de la Societé La Sauvegarde de l'Art Français, Galerie Charpentier, Paris, 04/24/1924 - 05/16/1924
  • Exposition de la jeunesse de Romantiques, Maison de Victor Hugo, Paris, 05/18/1927 - 06/30/1927
  • Exposition Gros: Ses amis, ses élèves, Petit Palais, Paris, Paris, 05/01/1936 - 07/31/1936
  • Exposition Gericault: Peintre et Dessinateur, Galerie Bernheim Jeune, Paris, 05/10/1937 - 05/29/1937
  • Master Paintings from the Fogg Collection, Fogg Art Museum, Cambridge, 04/13/1977 - 08/31/1977
  • Masterpieces of European Art, Busch-Reisinger Museum, Cambridge, 06/22/1985 - 09/15/1985
  • Between Reality and Dreams: Nineteenth Century British and French Art from the Winthrop Collection of the Fogg Art Museum, National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo, 09/14/2002 - 12/08/2002
  • 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
  • For Students of Art and Lovers of Beauty: Highlights from the Collection of Grenville L. Winthrop, Harvard University Art Museums, Fogg Art Museum, Cambridge, 04/16/2004
  • HAA 10 Survey Course (S421): The Western Tradition: Art Since the Renaissance (Fall 08 Rotation 1), Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, 09/13/2008 - 10/19/2008
  • HAA 10 Survey Course (S421): The Western Tradition: Art Since the Renaissance (Fall 09 Rotation 1), Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Cambridge, 09/02/2009 - 10/12/2009
  • HAA 10 Survey Course (S421): The Western Tradition: Art Since the Renaissance (Fall 10 Rotation 1), Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Cambridge, 09/10/2010 - 10/09/2010
  • HAA 10 Survey Course (S421): The Western Tradition: Art Since the Renaissance (Fall 11 Rotation 1), Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, 09/06/2011 - 10/01/2011
  • 32Q: 2200 19th Century, Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, 11/16/2014 - 07/12/2018; Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, 03/19/2019 - 01/01/2050
  • Mutiny: Works by Géricault, Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, 09/01/2018 - 01/06/2019

Subjects and Contexts

  • Google Art Project

Related Works

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