GERICAULT, JEAN LOUIS ANDRE THEODORE (1791-1824), French painter, the leader of the French realistic school, was born at Rouen on Sept. 26, 1791. In 1808 he en tered the studio of Carle Vernet, from which, in 181o, he passed to that of Guerin, whom he drove to despair by his passion for Rubens, and by the unorthodox manner in which he persisted in interpreting nature. At the Salon of 1812 Gericault attracted at tention by his "Officier de Chasseurs a Cheval" (Louvre), a work in which he personified the cavalry in its hour of triumph. Two years later (1814) he exhibited the "Cuirassier blesse" (Louvre) ; in both subjects he called attention to the interest of contem porary aspects of life, and exhibited that mastery of and delight in the horse which was a feature of his character. In 1815 Geri cault gave way to his enthusiasm for horses and soldiers, and enrolled himself in the mousquetaires. During the Hundred Days he followed the king to Bethune, but, on his regiment being dis banded, left France for Italy in 1816, and at Rome illustrated his favourite animal by his great painting, "Course des Chevaux Libres." Returning to Paris, Gericault exhibited at the Salon of 1819 the "Radeau de la Meduse" (Louvre), illustrating a ship wreck, a subject which not only enabled him to prove his zealous and scientific study of the human form, but contained those ele ments of the heroic and pathetic, as existing in situations of modern life, to which he had appealed in his earliest productions. The appearance of this work marks the beginning of the struggle between the classicist and Romantic movements. Easily de pressed or elated, Gericault took to heart the hostility which this work excited, and passed nearly two years in London, where the "Radeau" was exhibited with success, and where he executed many series of admirable lithographs now rare, and painted the three versions of the Derby now in the Louvre. At the close of 1822 he was again in Paris, and produced a great quantity of projects for vast compositions, models in wax, and a horse ecorche, as preliminary to the production of an equestrian statue. He died from the consequences of a fall from his horse on Jan. 26, 1824.
See Charles Clement, Th. Gericault, Etude biographique et critique, avec le catalogue raisonne (1879 second edition) .