6701 - Géricault, Théodore

Géricault, Théodore Set of 5 drawings: Self-portrait of Géricault during his final illness; Boy with a Hat; Study for the portrait of Louise Vernet as a child; Study of a hand; Study for the portrait of Olivier Bro de Comères as a child with a dog. 5 drawings: pen and ink in brown and pencil, each mounted at the corners onto blue paper from an album with gilt edges (presumably a page from the “Violet” album). Each approx. 4.5 x 3 cm to 7.3 x 6.2 cm. On the back of the frame, various labels, stamps, and later handwritten annotations in black pen and pencil. This extraordinary arrangement of five drawings by Théodore Géricault on a mat includes the artist’s unique self-portrait in his sickbed shortly before his death. Only a few self-portraits by the artist’s own hand have survived, making this pencil drawing—which Géricault created despite his illness—all the more significant. The touching sensation of seeing the artist in the final phase of his life is enhanced by the intimate format. Well-known portraits of the artist by his friends, who visited him at his deathbed, mostly show the emaciated face of the sick man. In stark contrast, however, is the effect of this pencil drawing, which depicts the artist lying peacefully on his bed. It is well known that Géricault was closely associated with Colonel Louis Bro and the Bro de Comères family (see Sophie Bostock: *An Inspired Soldier. The Algerian Album of Olivier Bro de Comères 1833–1840*, London 2025, pp. 2–3). Not only did Géricault paint portraits of family members, but he also gave Louis several drawings. These works were preserved in the sketchbooks of Louis’s son, Colonel Baron Olivier “Dominique” Bro de Comères, who was also an artist in his own right. These albums are referred to as the “Album Violet,” “Album Jaune,” etc., based on the color of their covers. After the death of Claire Le Page, Olivier’s wife, in 1908, Géricault’s works were divided among their three children. On a label from the art dealer Adolphe Wüster bearing the address “4, Rue Belloni,” which was in use from 1930 to 1941, the numbers “13” and "18"—which correspond to those in the draft of the estate division drawn up by the widow of Olivier Bros de Comères (see Bazin 1987, Vol. I, Doc. 385). The self-portrait of Géricault described above, painted during his final illness—which led to the artist’s death at the age of only 32—is already mentioned by Charles Clément in the artist’s first catalog raisonné (see Clément 1866–67, No. 162), along with other sketches of cows, horses, and family members. However, the dimensions are incorrectly stated. Instead of 55 x 50 mm, Clément writes 550 x 500 mm. This error was not corrected in subsequent editions of the catalog raisonné, but it was corrected in the exhibition catalog of the Hôtel Jean Charpentier in 1924 (see Exh. Cat. *Exposition d’Œuvres de Géricault*, no. 296). None of these publications includes an illustration, though they all reference the Bro de Comères family collection. After the 1924 exhibition at Charpentier, the self-portrait and the other nine sketches offered under this and subsequent lot numbers must have left the family’s possession. The works likely came into the possession of the art dealer and collector Maurice Gobin via Adolphe Wüster (see above), who exhibited them in his gallery in 1935 in a presentation similar to the current one (see exhibition Cat. Exposition de Dessins [...], 1935, nos. 74 and 75). He identified the self-portrait as the sheet referred to by Clément. The fact that this is the sheet rediscovered here is confirmed by the reproduction of the self-portrait in Maximilien Gauthier’s small volume on Géricault (see Gauthier [1935], no. 1). There it is titled “Géricault malade” and attributed to the Gobin Collection. Germain Bazin was unable to locate the sketches from the Gobin Collection, which is why he inadvertently cataloged the self-portrait twice: under No. 2 with an incorrect illustration and under No. 3 as a work by an unknown artist (see Bazin 1987, Vol. I, p. 205, and Vol. II, Nos. 2 and 3). It is now finally possible, based on the original, to reconcile these numbers under Géricault’s authorship. The attribution is also confirmed by the fact that Bazin considers the middle sketch to be an autograph work (see Bazin 1992, Vol. V, No. 1738). This is an initial sketch for the finished painting Portrait of Olivier Bro de Comères as a Child with a Dog (Harvard Art Museums, Inv. No. 2021.192). To the left of this is another preparatory sketch for the portrait of Louise Vernet, daughter of Géricualt and Louis Bro’s artist friend Horace Vernet (see the painting in the Musée du Louvre, Inv. No. RF 1938 92). P