A Horse frightened by Lightning by Theodore Gericault was created in 1813 – 1814. The painting is in National Gallery London. The size of the work is 48,9 x 60,3 cm and is made of oil on canvas.
About the Work
Jean-Louis-André-Théodore Géricault was a keen horseman, and his passion for horses was matched by his expert understanding of their anatomy. Unlike England, France did not have an established tradition of horse painting. However, there were French artists who specialised in painting horses – such as the fashionable Carle Vernet, himself an avid horseman and with whom the young Géricault had trained – and a market for these pictures.
It is likely that Géricault painted this picture in 1813 or 1814, soon after he had successfully exhibited a huge canvas, The Charging Chasseur (also known as An Officer of the Imperial Horse Guard Charging, Louvre, Paris) at the Salon of 1812, for which he was awarded a gold medal. In 1813 he produced a number of oil studies and finished paintings of horses at the Imperial stables at Versailles, possibly including this one, showing them either in groups or individually. In contrast to the action and movement of The Charging Chasseur, these paintings are characterised by close observation and detailed naturalism. Read more in National Gallery London.
About the Artist
Jean-Louis André Théodore Géricault (26 September 1791 – 26 January 1824) was a French painter and lithographer, whose best-known painting is The Raft of the Medusa. Despite his short life, he was one of the pioneers of the Romantic movement.
Born in Rouen, France, Géricault moved to Paris with his family, probably in 1797, where Théodore’s father, a lawyer, worked in the family tobacco business based at the Hôtel de Longueville on the Place du Carrousel. Géricault’s artistic abilities were likely first recognized by the painter and art dealer Jean-Louis Laneuville. Laneuville lived at the Hotel de Longueville alongside Jean-Baptiste Caruel, Théodore Géricault’s maternal uncle, and other members of the extended Géricault family. Read more in Wikipedia.
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