Mounted Trumpeters of Napoleon's Imperial Guard

1813/1814

Théodore Gericault

Artist, French, 1791 - 1824

Three men on horseback wearing elaborate military uniforms in cream white, crimson red, and gold almost fill this vertical painting. Lit dramatically from the upper left, the men all have peachy, tanned skin. Their red and white uniforms are trimmed liberally with gold. Each man wears a red sash across his chest, cream-white gloves that reach back to mid-forearm, and a tall hat topped with a single, stiff, white feather. At the center of the composition, the man closest to us rides a horse dappled with silver, steel gray, and black, which raises a front hoof as if in mid-stride. The horse and rider’s bodies are angled to our right, but the horse looks back to our left as the man looks directly at us with small brown eyes. His slender nose slopes to a brown handlebar moustache that curves over his pale peach mouth. He leans slightly back in the saddle, which is draped with a scarlet-red blanket with gold trim. The leg we see, to our left, is extended straight in the stirrup, and the man braces a brass trumpet adorned with gold tassels against that thigh. His helmet has a high, square, white crown that comes to points to each side and in front. The boxy shape is outlined in red and has the stiff, bushy feather at the top front and a red tassel hanging along one side. An arched brass plaque with a capital N is affixed to the front of the helmet over a narrow brim. Though held in place with a chin strap, the helmet is slightly askew. To our left and behind the central man, a white horse and rider face away from us. This rider’s upper body is turned back slightly to our right so we see him in profile as he holds a brass horn to his lips. To our right and set father back, the third rider and his gray horse are very loosely painted so features of his face and costume are not clear. All three stand on a ground painted with swipes of caramel brown, mustard yellow, and pine green. The background is slightly darker, in smoky tones of brown, gray, and black with flicks of red. A dark mass, perhaps a deep shadow, rises to the right, behind the third horseman.

Media Options

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Between 1812 and 1814, while Napoleon's armies waged war across Europe, Théodore Gericault began a series of small canvases depicting Napoleonic cavalry officers. These paintings provided Gericault with the opportunity to explore two of the subjects that he loved best: the horse and the pomp of military life.

The Trumpeters of Napoleon's Imperial Guard is part of this series. Gericault does not portray an individual, but rather a romantic ideal of the dashing soldier. Though the depiction of the officers suggests actual portraits, the painting is an invention. The painting's composition is based upon strong visual contrasts. Gericault used short, rapid brushstrokes to define the central figures in the foreground while using broader, more sweeping strokes to create a neutral background. He further distinguished the figures from the background through his use of color. The background is in dark tones, while the figures are in warm, vibrant tones, that cause them to advance toward the viewer. The brightly colored parade uniform gives the painting a sensuous appeal and provides visual unity as it is repeated across the canvas. Produced during the height of war, the artist makes no reference to its hardships or defeat; instead he creates a romantic image of military grandeur.

More information on this painting can be found in the Gallery publication French Paintings of the Nineteenth Century, Part I: Before Impressionism, which is available as a free PDF https://www.nga.gov/content/dam/ngaweb/research/publications/pdfs/french-paintings-nineteenth-century.pdf

On View

West Building Main Floor, Gallery 52

Artwork overview

  • Medium

    oil on canvas

  • Credit Line

    Chester Dale Fund

  • Dimensions

    overall: 60.4 x 49.6 cm (23 3/4 x 19 1/2 in.)
    framed: 76.8 x 66 cm (30 1/4 x 26 in.)

  • Accession

    1972.25.1

Artwork history & notes

Provenance

Édouard Napoléon César Edmond Mortier, duc de Trévise [1883-1946], by 1937;[1] (sale, Galerie Charpentier, Paris, 19 May 1938, no 25, bought in); given to his relative, probably Jean, Comte Budes de Guébriant [b. 1911], Buenos Aires;[2] sold to Francisco Gowland Llobet, Buenos Aires; on consignment 1971 to (Galerie Schmit, Paris); purchased 19 July 1972 by NGA.
[1] The painting had its first public exhibition as no. 30 of the Gericault exhibition held at the Galerie Bernheim Jeune in Paris in 1937. It was at that time owned by the duc de Trévise. The fact that it had not figured in any of the previous exhibitions to which de Trévise had lent works by Gericault from his collection, notably the Exposition d'oeuvres de Géricault held in 1924 at the Hôtel Jean Charpentier of which he had been the chief organizer, suggests that he acquired Trumpeters sometime between 1924 and 1937. Its earlier history is not known.
[2] According to a letter dated 6 July 1972 from Robert Schmidt of the Galerie Schmidt, the duc de Trévise gave the painting to "his relative" the Comte de Guébriant. In 1904, the duc's sister married Vicomte Hervé Budes de Gurbriant, with whom she had one daughter and two sons, Jean and Alain. Of the three Comtes (Comte is used as a courtesy title instead of Vicomte) extant between 1937 and 1972, Jean was the only one with a Buenos Aires address.

Associated Names

Exhibition History

1937

  • Gericault, peintre et dessinateur, Galerie Bernheim-Jeune, Paris, 1937, no. 30

  • Chefs-d'oeuvre de l'art français, Palais National des Arts, Paris, 1937, no. 335

1938

  • Les influences, Galerie Paul Rosenberg, Paris, 1938, no. 16.

  • Gros, Gericault, Delacroix, M. Knoedler & Co., New York, 1938, no. 21, repro.

1939

  • Masterworks of Five Centuries, Golden Gate International Exhibition, San Francisco, 1939, no. 115, repro.

  • French Romantic Artists, San Francisco Museum of Art, 1939, no. 15

1940

  • Masterpieces of Art. European & American Paintings 1500-1900, New York World's Fair, 1940, no. 240, repro.

  • Seven Centuries of Painting, California Palace of the Legion of Honor, San Francisco, and M.H. De Young Memorial Museum, San Francisco, 1940, no. L-121

  • An Exhibition of Great Paintings in Aid of the Canadian Red Cross and of Small Pictures by Members of the Ontario Society of Artists, Art Gallery of Toronto, 1940, no. 71.

1979

  • French Romanticism, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1979, unnumbered checklist.

1989

  • Gericault: Romantic Paintings and Drawings, The Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco and California Palace of the Legion of Honor, 1989, no. 9

1991

  • Gericault, Galeries nationales du Grand Palais, Paris, 1991-1992, no. 41, repro.

Bibliography

1906

  • Delteil, Loys. Théodore Géricault (Le peintre-graveur illustré vol. 18). Paris, 1924: no. 6.

1937

  • Laprade, Jacques. "Une magnifique exposition d'oeuvres de Géricault." Beaux-Arts (14 May 1937): 8.

1938

  • "European Auctions." Art News 36 (1938): 80.

  • "La collection du duc de Trévise." Beaux Arts (29 April 1938): 7.

  • "Trévise sale." Illustrated London News (4 June 1938): 996.

  • Frankfurter, Alfred M. "The Apostles of Romanticism." Art News 37 (1938): 20.

  • Goldschmidt, Ernst. Frankrigs Malerkunst. Copenhagen, 1938: 80.

1939

  • Lane, James W. "Notes from New York." Apollo 29 (1939): 35.

  • Goldwater, Robert J. "Gros, Gericault, Delacroix." Art in America 27 (1939): 38, repro. on cover.

1941

  • Dimier, Louis. "Le rôle de Géricault dans notre école." Beaux-Arts (19 September 1941): 9, repro.

1960

  • Eitner, Lorenz. Géricault, an Album of Drawings in the Art Institute of Chicago. Chicago, 1960: 9, 12, 41, 47 note 19, pl. 57 recto.

1967

  • Wiercinska, Janina. "Théodore Géricault et le 'Lancier Polonais' du Musée de Varsovie." Bulletin du Musée National de Varsovie 8, no. 3 (1967): 81-91.

1970

  • Johnson, Lee. "A Copy after Van Dyck by Géricault." The Burlington Magazine 112 (1970): 795, fig. 12.

1972

  • "Recent Accessions of American and Canadian Museums." The Art Quarterly 35 (1972): 438, 449, repro.

1973

  • "Art Across the USA." Apollo 97: 195, fig. 7.

1975

  • European Paintings: An Illustrated Summary Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1975: 150, repro.

1976

  • Grunchec, Philippe. "L'inventaire posthume de Théodore Géricault." Bulletin de la Société de l'Histoire de l'Art Français (1976): 411-412, note 3.

1978

  • King, Marian. Adventures in Art: National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. New York, 1978: 83, pl. 49.

  • Grunchec, Philippe. Géricault, Tout l'oeuvre peint. Paris, 1978: 95-96, no. 66, repro. (Rev. ed., Paris, 1991: 96, no. 66).

1979

  • Watson, Ross. The National Gallery of Art, Washington. New York, 1979: 102, pl. 90.

  • Grunchec, Philippe. "Géricault, problème de méthode." Revue de l'Art 43 (1979): 42, 57.

1982

  • Grunchec, Philippe. Géricault, dessins et aquarelles de chevaux. Lausanne, 1982: 70, repro.

1983

  • Eitner, Lorenz. Gericault, his Life and Work. London, 1983: 43, 278, 294, color pl. 9, 327 note 9 (French edition, Paris, 1991: 56-57, repro.).

1984

  • Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington. Rev. ed. New York, 1984: 418, no. 598, color repro.

1985

  • European Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1985: 173, repro.

1987

  • Bazin, Germain. Théodore Gericault, étude critique, documents et catalogue raisonné. 7 vols. and appendix. Paris, 1987-1997: 2(1987):no. 293; 3(1989):50, 177, no. 801 as attributed to Jules Auguste.

1991

  • Eitner, Lorenz. "Review of Germain Bazin, Théodore Gericault, étude critique, documents et catalogue raisonné, vols. 1-3." The Burlington Magazine 133 (1991): 256.

  • Grunchec, Philippe. Gericault, tout l'oeuvre peint. Rev. ed. Paris, 1991: 96, no. 66.

1995

  • National Gallery of Art. National Gallery of A rt, Washington, Rev. ed. Washington, D.C.,1995: 177, repro.

2000

  • Eitner, Lorenz. French Paintings of the Nineteenth Century, Part I: Before Impressionism. The Collections of the National Gallery of Art Systematic Catalogue. Washington, D.C., 2000: 246-254, color repro.

Wikidata ID

Q20183414

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