Skip to main content

Visit Main Menu Block

  • Hours & Admission
  • Accessibility & Amenities
  • Tours & Group Visits
  • Visitor Guidelines

Exhibitions and Events Main Menu Block

  • Exhibitions
  • Events

Art and Design Main Menu Block

  • Collection
  • Collection Research
  • Past Exhibitions
  • Watch / Listen / Read

Footer Main

  • Become a Member
  • Who We Are
  • Opportunities
  • Rent the Museum
A pen and ink drawing of a young, elegant woman averting her gaze from an organ grinder peeing in the street beside a ragged, older woman in feeds a dog.
A pen and ink drawing of a young, elegant woman averting her gaze from an organ grinder peeing in the street beside a ragged, older woman in feeds a dog.
Previous image 1 2 / 2 Next image
  • A pen and ink drawing of a young, elegant woman averting her gaze from an organ grinder peeing in the street beside a ragged, older woman in feeds a dog.
  • A pen and ink drawing of a young, elegant woman averting her gaze from an organ grinder peeing in the street beside a ragged, older woman in feeds a dog.

Jean-Louis-André-Théodore Géricault

The Organ Grinder

Maker

Jean-Louis-André-Théodore Géricault (French, 1791-1824)

Title

The Organ Grinder
Joueur d'orgue

Year

ca. 1820

Medium

  • Pen and ink over graphite on laid paper

Materials/Techniques

Techniques

  • Pen and ink over graphite on laid paper

Materials

ink

Supports

  • laid paper

Dimensions

20.3 x 15.9 cm (8 x 6 1/4 inches)

Signature / Inscription / Marks

Stamped with unidentified collector's mark "P. H." (Lugt 2084) and collector's marks of Aimé-Charles-Horace His de la Salle (Paris, 1795-1878; Lugt 1332)

Partial watermark: shield topped by a crown and a crescent?

Credit / Object Number

Credit

Gift of the Estate of Mrs. Gustav Radeke

Object Number

31.239

Type

  • Drawings and Watercolors

Publications

  • Books

Selection V: French Watercolors and Drawings, ca. 1800-1910

French watercolors and drawings from the Museum's collection, ca. 1800-1910

Exhibition History

Drawing Closer
Four Hundred Years of Drawing from the RISD Museum
Mar 12, 2022 – Sep 04, 2022

Label copy

A man with a street organ strapped on his back relieves himself in public. A well-dressed woman, a beggar, and even a little dog turn their heads away in apparent disgust at the undignified spectacle. The French painter Théodore Géricault made this quick sketch while visiting London. Like many other visitors at the time, he was shocked by the sordid living conditions poor people endured in the British capital. While Géricault’s sketch is imbued with a gentle note of humor and perhaps a less subtle sense of French superiority, it also shines a critical light on social inequity.

French Drawings in the Time of Degas
Aug 19, 2005 – Jan 22, 2006

Label copy

Géricault’s representions of contemporary experience, drawn largely from direct observation, emphasized the human element. This drawing probably dates from Géricault’s trip to London, where he spent his days sketching his impressions of street life with incisive realism. He was interested, paradoxically, both in street derelicts and in the modern and fashionable aspects of an industrialized London.

Degas owned a small group of equestrian lithographs by Géricault that influenced his early study of racehorses and racing scenes. Degas drew repeatedly after Géricault’s equestrian images in preparation for his own pictures of racetracks.

French Master Drawings
May 01, 1954 – May 30, 1954
Master Drawing from the Museum and a Private Collection
Jun 19, 1946 – Oct 27, 1946

Image use

The images on this website can enable discovery and collaboration and support new scholarship, and we encourage their use.

Public Domain This object is in the Public Domain and available under a CC0 1.0 Universal (CC0 1.0) Public Domain Dedication

Tombstone

Jean-Louis-André-Théodore Géricault (French, 1791-1824)
The Organ Grinder; Joueur d'orgue, ca. 1820
Pen and ink over graphite on laid paper
20.3 x 15.9 cm (8 x 6 1/4 inches)
Gift of the Estate of Mrs. Gustav Radeke 31.239

To request new photography, please send an email to imagerequest@risd.edu and include your name and the object's accession number.

Feedback

We view our online collection as a living documents, and our records are frequently revised and enhanced. If you have additional information or have spotted an error, please send feedback to curatorial@risd.edu.

Footer Main

  • Become a Member
  • Who We Are
  • Opportunities
  • Rent the Museum

Footer Main Navigation

  • Visit

    • Hours & Admission
    • Accessibility & Amenities
    • Tours & Group Visits
    • Visitor Guidelines
  • Art & Design

    • Collection Research
    • Collection
    • Past Exhibitions
  • Join / Give

    • Become a Member
    • Give
  • Exhibitions & Events

    • Exhibitions
    • Events
  • Watch / Listen / Read

    • The Latest
    • Publications
    • Articles
    • Audio & Video

Footer Secondary Navigation

  • Who We Are
  • Opportunities
  • Image Request
  • Press Office
  • Rent the Museum
  • Terms of Use
Tickets
Homepage
Go to the risd.edu homepage. This link will open in a new window.