Géricault, Théodore

(1791-1824)

   painter

   Considered perhaps the most influential artist of his time and a seminal figure of the romantic movement in art, Théodore Géricault was born in Rouen and worked with noted artists before traveling to Italy (1816-17) to continue his studies. There, he was greatly influenced by the work of Michelangelo and other italian Renaissance painters, as well as by that of Rubens. Early in his career, Géricault developed a style that set him apart from the French neoclassical artists. He soon was acknowledged as the leader of the French romantics, especially in his paintings Charging Chasseur (exhibited at the Paris Salon in 1812) and The Wounded Cuir-rassier (1814). Both display violent action, dramatic color, bold design, and powerful emotion. These characteristics appeared in heightened form in his immense and overpowering The Raft of the Medusa (1818-19, louvre), inspired by the disturbing details of a contemporary shipwreck. in 1820, Géri-cault traveled to England, where he painted The Derby at Epsom (1821, Louvre). Toward the end of his life he engaged in a series of portraits of mental patients and other works that make him a precursor of realism. Géricault also produced a number of bronze statuettes, a series of lithographs, and many drawings and color sketches.