Théodore Géricault (1791-1824), Entourage de. Portrait of Jean-Louis-André-Théodore Géricault Circa 1824, pencil, watercolor and gum arabic on vellum mounted on cardboard Glued to the back, a label from the Gosselin sale catalog with the handwritten inscription "aquarelle". 32 x 24 cm Attributes of the arts Pencil, ink and stump on cardboard Inscription : La méduse 6.5 x 20.5 cm Provenance : - De Musigny Collection - Madame de Champy Collection - Madame Tullier-Blum Collection - Madame Amiel Collection - Collection Larrey (?) - Gosselin sale March 7, 1953 Bibliography : - Germain Bazin, Théodore Géricault, étude critique, documents et catalog raisonné. Vol. 2, L'OEuvre: Période de formation. Paris, 1987, p. 331, which relates the work to Horace Vernet's portrait of Géricault. N°17, reproduced. - Lorenz Eitner, Géricault sa vie, son œuvre. p. 244, translation Paris 1991. ill. 129 (related work). Handwritten inscription on back: "Portrait painted (or drawn or colored) by himself. The attributes of this portrait are by his friend M. De Musigny. This portrait was given by M. de Musigny to Madame Champy, who left it as a souvenir to Mme de Tullier-Blum. It was offered to me by his daughter Madame Amiel in his memory (see her letter of May 25, 1875). Larrey (?)" Géricault, icon of Romanticism Théodore Géricault, whose death today marks the bicentenary of his death, 1824 - 2024, was an artist who revolutionized painting in the early 19th century. Characterized by his attraction to pathos and tragedy, his vision of the nascent Romantic movement inspired an entire movement. Romantic painters who knew him or followed his painting precepts were almost devoutly devoted to him. His relics often haunted their studios, and death masks, sculptures in his hand and brushes that had belonged to him were commonplace. So much so, in fact, that the death mask, the artist's last portrait, was the most widely distributed, along with that of the former emperor, who had died three years earlier. Our portrait, whose authorship is open to debate, is a testimony to this era and its transmission, among which relics recall the artist's memory. Complex in execution, our watercolor demonstrates the artist's technical skill. The image itself is reminiscent of the portrait painted by Horace Vernet around 1822, 1823. As mentioned above, the infatuation with the artist's image gave rise to many vocations at the turn of the 1820s and 1830s, and it is difficult to give our work to the artist or to an admirer. As for the provenance, it is exemplary: the various owners were more or less closely related to the artist. The note on the reverse indicating this is signed by Félix Hippolyte Larrey (1808 - 1895), son of Dominique - Jean - Larrey, surgeon to Napoleon I's armies, and himself to Napoleon III, the family also being very close to Girodet, whose personal physician was Dominique Larrey.