Aquatint, Lithograph, and the Instant · The Romantic Horse
The Race of the Riderless Horses
Théodore Géricault, 1817 · oil and pen and ink on paper laid on canvas
What it is
Bare-chested grooms struggle to hold a mass of rearing horses before a race run without riders, in Théodore Géricault’s oil and pen and ink on paper laid on canvas, 1817.
Why it matters
It is a study on paper, worked fast, and the whole composition is already there.
What to notice
The pale horse at the centre rears over the man holding it, and the columns behind are only half drawn.
Held back, for one more second.
Provenance
- Maker
- Théodore Géricault, 1817
- Era
- The Georgian Turf (1750–1837)
- Chapter
- The String at Full Stretch
- Medium
- oil and pen and ink on paper laid on canvas
- Made
- 1817
- Source
- J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles · via Wikimedia Commons · 85.PC.406
Rights: CLEAR. Public domain — U.S. 95-year rule (published 1930 or earlier). Gated by the work’s own year of publication. Cleared by registry on 2026-11-01. Wikimedia Commons licence tag, read 2026-11-01: PD-Art|PD-old-auto-expired|deathyear=1824. The maker died in 1824.
Format
The full-resolution, color-managed file — restored honestly, yours to print and keep.
Sized to protect print quality — this scan supports sizes up to 27x41" cleanly.
Size
$29.00
More from the Stable Wall
Steeplechasing — The Start
‘Elis’, Winner of the St Leger, 1836
Fores’s National Sports — The Run In
The Trotting Mare Nancy Hanks
Elsewhere in the family
- The Links — the other morning religion.
- Painted Lineage — the bloodline, beside the family line.
- Painted Earth — home ground as a period map.