Jean-Louis-André-Théodore Géricault

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.

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.