id: 110565 accession number: 1929.13 share license status: CC0 url: https://clevelandart.org/art/1929.13 updated: Fighting Horses, c. 1820. Théodore Géricault (French, 1791–1824). Watercolor over graphite; sheet: 21.7 x 29.4 cm (8 9/16 x 11 9/16 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Charles W. Harkness Endowment Fund 1929.13 title: Fighting Horses title in original language: series: series in original language: creation date: c. 1820 creation date earliest: 1815 creation date latest: 1825 current location: creditline: Charles W. Harkness Endowment Fund copyright: --- culture: France, 19th century technique: watercolor over graphite department: Drawings collection: DR - French type: Drawing find spot: catalogue raisonne: Bazin 1657 --- CREATORS * Théodore Géricault (French, 1791–1824) - artist --- measurements: Sheet: 21.7 x 29.4 cm (8 9/16 x 11 9/16 in.) state of the work: edition of the work: support materials: description: ivory wove paper watermarks: inscriptions: inscription: on old label (now removed), in brown ink: This drawing by Géricault was / the property of The Marquis of / Hertford & left to Sir Richard / Wallace, who in time bequethed / it to Sir John Murray Scott / Bart: / Purchased by Leggatt Bros at / the sale of Sir John Murray / Scott's Drawings etc, at 5 / Connaught Place Marble Arch. / Feb: 9th 1914.; on old label (now removed): across top, in graphite: 41 [circled] Dr. Bellingham Smith; down center, in brown ink: J. L. A. T. Géricault / Horses Fighting / Colles Marquess of Hertford / Sir Richard Wallace and / Sir John Murray Scott / Exhib. Burlington Fine Arts Club / 1922 . No 52. / Pictures drawings & Sculptures of French School / of the last 100 years. translation: remark: --- CURRENT EXHIBITIONS title: French Art Since Eighteen Hundred opening date: 1929-11-08T05:00:00 French Art Since Eighteen Hundred. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (November 8-December 8, 1929). title: Drawings in the Classic and Romantic Tradition before 1830 opening date: 1932-12-07T05:00:00 Drawings in the Classic and Romantic Tradition before 1830. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (December 7, 1932-January 11, 1933). title: Exhibition of Drawings from the Museum Collection Supplemented by Loans from Local Collections opening date: 1935-07-12T04:00:00 Exhibition of Drawings from the Museum Collection Supplemented by Loans from Local Collections. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (July 12-September 15, 1935). title: The Work of Théodore Géricault and Honoré Daumier opening date: 1937-02-10T05:00:00 The Work of Théodore Géricault and Honoré Daumier. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (February 10-March 7, 1937). title: Drawings from the Museum Collection opening date: 1937-05-28T04:00:00 Drawings from the Museum Collection. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (May 28-December 9, 1937). title: Old Master Drawings from the Museum Collection opening date: 1939-01-04T05:00:00 Old Master Drawings from the Museum Collection. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (January 4-March 26, 1939). title: Drawings from the Museum Collection opening date: 1940-07-11T04:00:00 Drawings from the Museum Collection. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (July 11-October 3, 1940). title: French Drawings and Watercolors from French Public and Private Collections opening date: 1942-01-06T05:00:00 French Drawings and Watercolors from French Public and Private Collections. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (January 6-February 15, 1942). title: Drawings from the Museum Collection opening date: 1942-06-17T04:00:00 Drawings from the Museum Collection. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (June 17-August 24, 1942). title: 19th and 20th Century French Art and Leonard C. Hanna, Jr. Loans opening date: 1943-06-22T04:00:00 19th and 20th Century French Art and Leonard C. Hanna, Jr. Loans. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (June 22-September 1, 1943). title: 19th-Century French Drawings opening date: 1947-03-08T05:00:00 19th-Century French Drawings. Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco, Legion of Honor, San Francisco, CA (organizer) (March 8-April 6, 1947). title: Watercolors by the Masters: Dürer to Cézanne opening date: 1952-05-01T04:00:00 Watercolors by the Masters: Dürer to Cézanne. Minneapolis Institute of Art, Minneapolis, MN (organizer) (May 1-June 15, 1952). title: Baron Gros, Painter of Battles: The First Romantic Painter opening date: 1956-03-08T05:00:00 Baron Gros, Painter of Battles: The First Romantic Painter. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (March 8-April 15, 1956). title: Department of Prints and Drawings Opening Exhibition opening date: 1958-03-03T05:00:00 Department of Prints and Drawings Opening Exhibition. The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer) (March 3, 1958-October 11, 1959). title: Italian and French Drawings opening date: 1959-10-13T04:00:00 Italian and French Drawings. The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer) (October 13, 1959-February 2, 1960). title: The Nineteenth Century: One Hundred Twenty-Five Master Drawings opening date: 1962-03-26T05:00:00 The Nineteenth Century: One Hundred Twenty-Five Master Drawings. Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, NY (March 26-April 23, 1962). title: Nineteenth Century: 125 Master Drawings opening date: 1962-03-26T05:00:00 Nineteenth Century: 125 Master Drawings. Frederick R. Weisman Art Museum, Minneapolis, MN (organizer) (March 26-April 23, 1962); Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, NY (May 10-June 30, 1962). title: The Nineteenth Century: One Hundred Twenty-Five Master Drawings opening date: 1962-03-26T05:00:00 The Nineteenth Century: One Hundred Twenty-Five Master Drawings. Frederick R. Weisman Art Museum, Minneapolis, MN (organizer) (May 15-July 1, 1962). title: Drawings opening date: 1963-01-11T05:00:00 Drawings. The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer) (January 11-September 10, 1963). title: European Watercolors Through the 18th Century opening date: 1964-01-16T05:00:00 European Watercolors Through the 18th Century. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (January 16-March 22, 1964). title: Drawings: France, Italy, Netherlands opening date: 1965-01-01T05:00:00 Drawings: France, Italy, Netherlands. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (January 1-March 24, 1965). title: French Drawings opening date: 1965-11-10T05:00:00 French Drawings. The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer) (November 10, 1965-February 16, 1966). title: The Artist and the Animal: A Loan Exhibition for the Benefit of the Animal Medical Center opening date: 1968-05-07T04:00:00 The Artist and the Animal: A Loan Exhibition for the Benefit of the Animal Medical Center. M. Knoedler & Co., Inc., New York, NY (organizer) (May 7-24, 1968). title: Géricault opening date: 1971-10-12T04:00:00 Géricault. Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, CA (organizer) (October 12-December 12, 1971); The Detroit Institute of Arts, Detroit, MI (January 23-March 7, 1972); Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, PA (March 30-May 14, 1972). title: Brush Drawings opening date: 1981-03-03T05:00:00 Brush Drawings. The Cleveland Museum of Art (March 3-May 10, 1981). title: Goya, Gericault and Delacroix opening date: 1983-01-25T05:00:00 Goya, Gericault and Delacroix. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (January 25-April 24, 1983). title: Master Drawings by Géricault opening date: 1985-06-07T04:00:00 Master Drawings by Géricault. The Morgan Library & Museum, New York, NY (organizer) (June 7-July 31, 1985); San Diego Museum of Art, San Diego, CA (August 31-October 20, 1985); Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Houston, TX (November 9, 1985-January 5, 1986). title: Treasures on Paper opening date: 1988-05-10T04:00:00 Treasures on Paper. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (May 10-July 24, 1988). title: Gericault: Romantic Paintings and Drawings opening date: 1989-01-28T05:00:00 Gericault: Romantic Paintings and Drawings. Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, San Francisco, CA (organizer) (January 28-March 26, 1989). title: Géricault opening date: 1991-09-26T04:00:00 Géricault. Musée du Louvre, Paris, France (September 26, 1991-January 6, 1992). title: French Drawings from the Collection opening date: 1994-12-13T05:00:00 French Drawings from the Collection. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (December 13, 1994-March 12, 1995). title: Master Drawings from the Cleveland Museum of Art opening date: 2000-08-27T00:00:00 Master Drawings from the Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (August 27-October 17, 2000); The Morgan Library & Museum, New York, NY (May 23-August 19, 2001); Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Houston, TX (October 14, 2001-January 6, 2002). title: Treasures on Paper from the Collection of the Cleveland Museum of Art opening date: 2014-03-09T00:00:00 Treasures on Paper from the Collection of the Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer) (March 9-June 8, 2014). --- LEGACY EXHIBITIONS * Paintings, Drawings, and Sculpture of the French School of the Last 100 Years. Burlington Fine Arts Club, London (1922). * Collection of Paintings, Porcelain, Bronzes, Decorative Furniture, and Other Works of Art Lent for Exhibition. Bethnal Green Branch of the South Kensington Museum (June 1872). --- PROVENANCE Possibly Anatole Demidoff [1812-1870], Paris date: ?-1863 footnotes: citations: (Hotel Drouot, Paris, Tableaux des premiers maitres..., January 13-16, 1863, no. 58, probably sold to Richard Seymour-Conway, 4th Marquess of Hertford) date: 1863 footnotes: *
As  "Un Marché aux chevaux. Aquarelle."
citations: Richard Seymour-Conway, 4th Marquess of Hertford [1800-1870], by descent to his son Sir Richard Wallace date: probably 1863-1870 footnotes: *
Inscribed on an old label.
citations: Sir Richard Wallace [1818-1890], Paris, by descent to his wife Julie-Amélie-Charlotte Castelnau, Lady Wallace date: 1870-1890 footnotes: citations: Julie-Amélie-Charlotte Castelnau, Lady Wallace [1819-1897], London, by descent to her advisor Sir John Murray Scott date: 1890-1897 footnotes: *
According to Hertford House inventory of 1890.
citations: Sir John Murray Scott [1847-1912], London date: 1897-1912 footnotes: citations: (Phillips, Son & Neale, Contents of the Residence...of Sir John E.A. Murray Scott, February 9, 1914, no. 446) date: 1914 footnotes: *
As "Wild Horses; and Horses in a Stable (a pair)."
citations: (Ernest Leggatt [1853-1922; Lugt 1664e], London, sold to Guy Bellingham Smith) date: after 1914-? footnotes: *
According to a letter from Guy Bellingham Smith, CMA files.
citations: Guy Bellingham Smith, London date: after 1914-1927 footnotes: citations: (Frederik Muller & Cie, Amsterdam, Dessins anciens...Collection Bellingham-Smith, July 5-6, 1927, no. 38, probably sold to Gustav Nebehay) date: 1927 footnotes: *
As "Combat de chevaux. Au centre, un grand cheval blanc; à gauche et à droite, des chevaux bruns et autres aux fond. Aquarelle.-Haut. 21,5, larg. 29,5 cent."
citations: (Gustav Nebehay [1881-1935], Vienna, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art) date: 1927 footnotes: citations: The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH date: 1929- footnotes: citations: --- fun fact: Théodore Géricault began this work with sketches from life, which became a graphite underdrawing beneath the watercolors. digital description: Théodore Géricault turned away from traditional subjects such as mythology and the Bible in favor of modernity, emotion, and drama. He was fascinated by the power and physical beauty of horses and depicted them often. Géricault himself was an avid rider and his paintings and drawings on this theme are characterized by vigor and movement. In this watercolor, he focused on a conflict, in which a groom struggles to separate a pair of fighting horses—a scene that appeared only a few times throughout his many interpretations of similar subjects. A sketchbook, now in the collection of the Art Institute of Chicago, shows that the artist carefully studied the animals, including the kicking white stallion at center, in graphite before beginning this finished work. wall description: A dramatic vigor pervades Géricualt's paintings and drawings, many of which present horses as the primary subject. The tragically short-lived artist was fascinated by the power and majesty of horses and was himself an avid rider. The brutalizing force that characterizes much of the artist's work is very much evident in this watercolor, in which a groom struggles to separate a pair of fighting horses. --- RELATED WORKS --- CITATIONS Black, C.C. Catalogue of the Collection of Paintings, Porcelain, Bronzes, Decorative Furniture, and Other Works of Art, Lent for the Exhibition in the Bethnal Green Branch of the South Kensington Museum, by Sir Richard Wallace. Exh. Cat. London: Bethnal Green Branch Museum, 1874. page number: Mentioned: no. 735 url: Catalogue of Pictures, Drawings, and Sculpture of the French School of the Last 100 Years. Exh. Cat. London: Burlington Fine Arts Club, 1922. page number: Mentioned: no. 52 url: “Lists of Objects in the Exhibition.” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 16, no. 9 (1929): 159–75. page number: Mentioned: p. 159 url: http://www.jstor.org/stable/25137248. Francis, Henry S. "A Drawing by Théodore Géricault." Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 20, no. 7 (July 1933): 111-113 page number: Mentioned: 111-113; Reproduced: p. 119 url: Francis, Henry. "Exhibition of the Work of Géricault." Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 24 (1937): 24-26. page number: Mentioned: p. 24 url: Berger, Klaus. Gericault: Drawings & Watercoolrs. New York: H. Bittner, 1946. page number: Mentioned and reproduced: no. 24 url: 19th-Century French Drawings. Exh. Cat. San Francisco: California Palace of the Legion of Honor, 1947. page number: Mentioned: no. 22 url: Watercolors by the Masters: Dürer to Cézanne. Exh. Cat. Minneapolis: Minneapolis Institute of Arts, 1952. page number: Mentioned: no. 35 url: Théodore Géricault, 1791-1824. Exh. Cat. Winterthur: Kunstmuseum Winterthur, 1953. page number: Mentioned: no. 47 url: Either, Lorenz. "Géricault at Winterthur." Burlington Magazine 96, no. 617 (August 1954): 254-259. page number: Mentioned: p. 259 url: De David à Toulouse-Lautrec; chefs-d'œuvres des collections américaines. Exh. Cat. Paris: Musée de l'Orangerie, 1955. page number: Mentioned: no. 75; Reproduced: plate 12 url: Roger-Marx, Claude. "Les Chefs-d'oeuvre des musées des États-Unis: De David à Toulouse-Lautrec." Le Jardin des arts (May 1955): 385-400. page number: Mentioned: pp. 396, 400 url: Veronesi, Giulia. "Saluto alla Francia." Emporium 122 (September 1955). page number: Reproduced: p. 118 url: The Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art Handbook. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1958. page number: Mentioned and Reproduced: cat. no. 598 url: https://archive.org/details/CMAHandbook1958/page/n112 Hüttinger, Eduard. Sammlung Emil G. Bührle. Exh. Cat. Zürich: Kunsthaus Zürich, 1958. page number: Mentioned: p. 84, under no. 107 url: Eitner, Lorenz. Géricault: An Album of Drawings in the Art Institute of Chicago. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1960. page number: Mentioned: p. 27, under nos. 20 and 21 url: Eitner, Lorenz. The Nineteenth Century: One Hundred Twenty-Five Master Drawings. Exh. Cat. New York: Guggenheim Museum, 1962. page number: Mentioned: no. 48; Reproduced: plate 18 url: Mongan, Agnes. Great Drawings of All Time. Vol. 3. New York: Shorewood Press, 1962. page number: Mentioned and reproduced: no. 727 url: The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1966. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1966. page number: Reproduced: p. 168 url: https://archive.org/details/CMAHandbook1966/page/n192 Virch, Claus. The Artist and the Animal. Exh. Cat. New York: Knoedler, 1968. page number: Mentioned and reproduced: p. 56, no. 72 url: The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1969. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1969. page number: Reproduced: p. 168 url: https://archive.org/details/CMAHandbook1969/page/n192 Eitner, Lorenz. Géricault. Exh. Cat. Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 1971. page number: Mentioned: pp. 107, 180-181, no. 65; Reproduced: p. 107 url: Reidemeister, Leopold, Brigitte Zehmisch, Rolf Kultzen, et al. Fondation Collection Emil G. Bührle. Munich: Artemis, 1973. page number: Mentioned: p. 58, under no. 10 url: The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1978. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1978. page number: Reproduced: p. 206 url: https://archive.org/details/CMAHandbook1978/page/n226 Thuillier, Jacques and Grunchec, Philippe. L'opera completa di Gericault. Milan: Rizzoli, 1978. page number: Mentioned: p. 101, under no. 98 url: Eitner, Lorenz. "Review: Tout l'oeuvre peint de Géricault." Burlington Magazine 122, no. 924 (March 1980): 206-210. page number: Mentioned: p. 206 url: Grunchec, Phlippe. Gericault: Dessins et Aquarelles de Chevaux. Lausanne: Edita, 1982. page number: Mentioned: p. 94; Reproduced: p. 95 url: Grunchec, Philippe. Master Drawings by Gericault. Exh. Cat. Washington, DC: International Exhibitions Foundation, 1985. page number: Mentioned and reproduced: no. 59 url: Ingamells, John. The Wallace Collection Catalogue of Pictures: French Nineteenth Century. London: Wallace Collection, 1986. page number: Mentioned: p. 301, no. 139 url: Eitner, Lorenz E.A. and Steven A. Nash. Gericault, 1791-1824. Exh. Cat. San Francisco: Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, 1989. page number: Mentioned: no. 48 url: Laveissière, Sylvain and Régis Michel. Gericault. Exh. Cat. Pairs: Galeries nationales du Grand Palais, 1991. page number: Mentioned and reproduced: no. 353 url: Noel, Bernard. Géricault. Paris: Flammarion, 1991. page number: Reproduced: p. 66 url: Bazin, Germain. Théodore Géricault: étude critique, documents et catalogue raisonné. Paris: Wildenstein, 1992. page number: Mentioned: pp. 69, 214, no. 1657; Reproduced: p. 214 url: "Drawings on Exhibition." Drawing 16, no. 6 (March - April 1995): 131-133. page number: Reproduced: p. 131 url: Brugerolles, Emmanuelle. Géricault: Dessins & estampes des collections de l'École des Beaux-Arts. Exh. Cat. Paris: École nationale supéreure des Beaux-Arts, 1997. page number: Mentioned: p. 221, under no. E.9 url: DeGrazia, Diane, and Carter E. Foster. Master Drawings from the Cleveland Museum of Art. Exh. Cat. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2000. page number: Mentioned: pp. 126-127, p. 290, no. 49; Reproduced: p. 127 url: Chenique, Bruno. Les Chevaux de Géricault. Paris: Bibliotheque de l'Image, 2002. page number: Mentioned and reproduced: p. 38, no. 36 url: Alsteens, Stijn, Carmen C. Bambach, George Goldner, et al, eds. Raphael to Renoir: Drawings from the Collection of Jean Bonna. Exh. Cat. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2009. page number: Mentioned and reproduced: p. 220, under no. 97 url: --- IMAGES web: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1929.13/1929.13_web.jpg print: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1929.13/1929.13_print.jpg full: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1929.13/1929.13_full.tif