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Théodore Géricault, Trumpeter of the Hussars
Théodore Géricault
French, 1791–1824
Trumpeter of the Hussars
c. 1815–20
This figure’s uniform identifies him as a member of the hussars—notoriously fearless cavalry—in the French army. He sits astride his horse, at a distance from the raging battle, with his trumpet at his side. Trumpeters needed visibility to sound a charge or retreat, yet his isolation may also symbolize the widespread disillusionment with the French military after the fall of Napoleon in 1815.
Medium
oil on canvas
Dimensions
37 13/16 x 28 1/4 in. (96 x 71.8 cm)
Original dimensions: 28 3/8 x 22 13/16 in. (72 x 58 cm)
Object Number
1955.959
Acquisition
Acquired by Sterling and Francine Clark before 1955
Status
On View
Image Caption
Théodore Géricault, Trumpeter of the Hussars, c. 1815–20, oil on canvas. Clark Art Institute, 1955.959
Select Bibliography
Paris: Galerie Georges Petit.. Cent Chefs d'Oeuvre des collections parisiennes.. Opened June 12, 1883..
Exposition Universelle de 1889: Catalogue général officiel, tome premier. Exhibition catalogue. Lille: 1889.
London: Knoedler Galleries.. Nineteenth-Century French Painters.. June 26-July 21, 1923..
Paris: Galerie Knoedler.. Exposition des Peintures de l'Ecole Française du XIXe Siècle.. Opened May 12, 1924..
Royal Academy of Arts (Great Britain). Exhibition of French Art 1200-1900. Royal Academy of Arts, Jan. 4-Mar. 12, 1932. London : Burlington House. 1932.
Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute. Exhibit Five, Supplement: South Gallery. Exhibition catalogue. Williamstown, MA: Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, 1959.
Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute. Exhibit Seven: The Regency and Louis XVI Rooms. Exhibition catalogue. Williamstown, MA: Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, 1957.
Wildenstein & Company. An Exhibition of Treasures from the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, Williamstown, Massachusetts: Paintings, drawings & rare silver, for the benefit of the Committee to Rescue Italian Art, inc. (CRIA). Exhibition catalogue. New York: Wildenstein & Company, 1967.
Los Angeles County Museum.. Géricault. Oct. 12 -Dec. 12, 1971; Detroit Institute of Arts, Jan. 23-March 7, 1972; Philadelphia Museum of Art, March 30-May 14, 1972. (Cat. by Lorenz Eitner).
Brown University Department of Art. All the Banners Wave: Art and War in the Romantic Era, 1792-1851. Feb. 26-March 28, 1982.
Salander-O'Reilly Galleries, New York.. Théodore Géricault. April 7-May 23, 1987.
Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco.. Géricault, 1791-1824. Jan. 28-March 26, 1989.
Grand Palais, Paris.. Géricault. Sept. 26, 1991-Jan. 6, 1992.. 1991..
Watson, Wendy M., and Thomas Branchick. Altered States: Conservation, Analysis and the Interpretation of Works of Art. Exhibition catalogue. South Hadley, MA: Mount Holyoke College Museum of Art, 1994.
Wolff, Albert. Les cent chefs-d'oeuvre des collections Parisiennes. Paris. 1884.
Raymond Régamey.. Géricault.. Paris: F. Rieder & Cie.. 1926..
Royal Academy of Arts (Great Britain). Commemorative Catalogue of the Exhibition of French Art, 1200-1900: Royal Academy of Arts, London, January-March, 1932. Royal Academy of Arts, London, January-March 1932. London: Oxford University Press, H. Milford. 1933.
Daulte, François. "Des Renoir et des chevaux." Connaissance des Arts 103 (September 1960): 26–38.
Ashbery, John. "Williamstown-sur-Seine." Art News 65, no. 10 (February 1967): 4447, 62.
Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute. List of Paintings in the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute. Williamstown, MA: Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, 1970.
Lorenz E. A. Eitner.. "Who was Theodore Géricault?". Art News, 79.. (Oct. 1971).:pp. 30-35, 69-72..
Johnson, Lee. "Current and Forthcoming Exhibitions: Géricault in Los Angeles." The Burlington Magazine 113, no,. 825 (Venetian Painting, December 1971): 76974.
Joseph T. Butler.. "The American Way with Art: Géricault.". Connoisseur, 181.. (Oct. 1972)..
Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute. List of Paintings in the Sterling & Francine Clark Art Institute. Williamstown, MA: Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, 1972.
Grunchec, Philippe. "Géricault: problèmes de méthode."Revue de l'art 43 (Editions du C.N.R.S., 1979): 37-58.
Brooks, John H. Highlights: Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute. Williamstown, MA: Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, 1981.
Anonymous. Illustration. The Chronicle of the Horse 43, no. 10 (7 March 1980): back cover.
Christopher Sells.. "New Light on Géricault, His Travels and His Friends, 1816-23.". Apollo, 123:292.. (June 1986)..
Lorenz E. A. Eitner.. Géricault: His Life and Work.. London: Orbis Publishing.. 1983..
Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute. List of Paintings in the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute. Williamstown, MA: Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, 1984.
Lorenz E. A. Eitner.. Géricault, Sa Vie, Son Oeuvre.. Paris: Gallimard.. 1991..
Régis Michel.. Géricault: l'invention du réel.. Paris: Ed. Gallimard.. 1992..
Kern, Steven, ed. List of Paintings in the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute. Williamstown, MA: Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, 1992.
Kern, Steven, et al. The Clark: Selections from the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute. New York: Hudson Hills Press, 1996.
Rachel Esner.. "René Princeteau's 'Dragoon' and the Depiction of the Franco-Prussian War.". Van Gogh Museum Journal.. 1996..
Anonymous. "Nineteenth-Century Painting and Sculpture." The Magazine Antiques 152 (October 1997): 522–31.
Joan Carpenter Troccoli.. Turning toward Home: The Art of Jean Richardson.. New York: John Szoke Graphics.. 1998..
Charles Clément.. Géricault: étude biographique et critique avec le catalogue raisonné de l'oeuvre du maître. 3rd ed.. Paris: Didier & Cie.. 1879..
Grunchec, Philippe. L'Opera completa di Géricault. Classici dell'arte 8. Milan: Rizzoli, 1978.
Grunchec, Philippe. Tout l'oeuvre peint de Géricault. Classiques de l'art. Paris: Flammarion, 1978.
Bazin, Germain. Le retour à Paris: Synthèse d'expériences plastiques. Vol. 5 of Théodore Géricault: Etude critique, documents et catalogue raisonné. Paris: Bibliothèque des Arts, 1992.
Lees, Sarah, ed. Nineteenth-Century European Paintings at the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute. Williamstown, MA: Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute; New Haven and London: distributed by Yale University Press, 2012.
Anonymous. Illustration. Springfield Sunday Republican, 27 November 1960.
The artist (possibly his sale, Hôtel de Bullion, Paris, 2–3 Nov. 1824, not in cat.);¹ possibly sale, Paris, 13 March 1827, no. 38, Le hussard en vedette sur une hauteur; ² Monjean; Prosper Crabbe, Brussels; Baron Ury von Günzburg; Defoer (by 1883–86, his sale, Galerie Georges Petit, Paris, 22 May 1886, no. 20, ill.); Georges Lutz, Paris (by 1889–1902, his sale, Galerie Georges Petit, Paris, 26–27 May 1902, no. 68, ill.); [Schaus Art Galleries, New York, sold to Clark];³ Elizabeth S. Clark (Mrs. Alfred Corning Clark), New York (probably 1902–d. 1909); F. Ambrose Clark, New York, her son, by descent (1909–12, given to Robert S. Clark in partial exchange for Fernleigh Farm, Cooperstown, N.Y.); Robert Sterling Clark, his brother (1912–55); Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, 1955.
1. In a written addition found in a copy of the sale catalogue (British Museum, London), there is a work titled Hussard à cheval (Mounted Hussar), listed under the heading “études peintes par Géricault,” that may correspond to this painting. The annotated catalogue is reprinted in Germain Bazin, Théodore Géricault: Étude crtitique, documents et catalogue raisonné, 1987–97, vol. 1, p. 96, and the sale is Lugt 10747.
2. The sale catalogue notes that “in the background combatants are seen. A painting of beautiful color and a great energy of execution” (“Dans le fond on aperçoit des combattans. Tableau d’une belle couleur et d’une grande énergie d’exécution”) and the dimensions are given as 36 x 26 pouces (approximately 97 x 70 cm); this description may correspond to the present painting after it was enlarged.
3. In his diaries, Sterling Clark later recalled that this painting was bought in partial exchange for Gérôme’s Snake Charmer (1955.51), commenting in 1944, “[M]y mother had turned [Snake Charmer] in to Schaus for $10,000 to $12,000 around 1899 as part payment for the ‘Trompette de Hussards’ at $35,000” (RSC Diary, 11 Nov. 1944). She could not have acquired Trumpeter of the Hussars in 1899, however, since it was owned by Lutz until 1902.)
