Leaping Tiger (Primary Title)
Referred to as (A Tiger) in Mellon transfer documents. (Alternate Title)
Théodore Géricault, French, 1791 - 1824 (Artist)
Considered to be one of the greatest Romantic artists of his time, Théodore Géricault drew upon the artistic movement’s desire to bring emotion and drama into a variety of subject matter. Géricault’s Romantic tendencies become apparent if one compares this watercolor sketch to George Stubbs’s oil painting Tiger, which is also in the VMFA collection. Whereas Stubbs elected to represent a docile tiger at ease within its environment—actually a private zoo in England—Gericault created an enraged beast snarling at an imaginary threat that exists off the page.
verso of sheet inscribed "gericault", " (g?)aris" (illegible)
signed "gericault" in bottom left of mounting
sheet in lower left corner and (G?)aris inscribed in lower right corner(mounting sheet has been detached from the watercolor)
Mounting sheet has stamp in upper right crner that is barely legible.
Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon
"Corot to Cezanne: French Drawings from the Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon", VMFA,
September 11, 2010-January 2, 2011.
"Corot to Cezanne: French Drawings from the Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon", The Fralin
Museum of Art at the University of Virginia, January 25, 2013-June 2, 2013.
Image released via Creative Commons CC-BY-NC
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