Description

This haunting image of a dead man swathed in white sheets was thought to have been painted by Théodore Géricault until a cleaning revealed the signature of his friend and follower Charles Emile Champmartin. More recent research has shown that the painting depicts Géricault himself on his deathbed, having succumbed to chronic tubercular infection at the young age of 32. Géricault’s early death and bold artistry, which sought to challenge classical notions of beauty, made him emblematic of the trope of the tragic Romantic artist. Images depicting his passing circulated throughout the 19th century, and talismanic copies of his death mask populated young artists’ studios.

Provenance

Possibly Champmartin Sale, Paris, Hôtel Drouot, January 28-29, 1884, lot 273 [see Paris 1992]. Possibly Sale, Paris, Hôtel Drouot, January 28, 1888, lot 112 [see Paris 1992]. Foynard, Paris; sold to Richard Goetz, Paris, by about 1914 [according to Richard Goetz's letter of December 14, 1937 to Robert Harshe, stating that he acquired the picture “at ‘Monsieur Foynard’ before war, the same as all my other Gericaults I bought at the period. Formerly in the collection ‘Chamartin’ (sic),” copy in curatorial file]; sold with sequestered property of Richard Goetz, Paris, Hôtel Drouot, February 23-24, 1922, lot 138, but presumably bought in and retained by Goetz [see copy of annotated sale catalogue from Clark Art Institute, Williamstown, in curatorial file]; sold through J. Rosner, Paris, as agent for Richard Goetz, to the Art Institute in November 1937 [based on receipt 6376 in Registrar’s office and letter from Goetz to Harshe cited above; see also Adry 1937].