Biographies

Théodore Géricault (1791 – 1824) He was born in Rouen. His father held a job in Paris, where Gericault attended the imperial lyceum. In 1808, he left the lyceum and, using a fortune he received from his mother, dedicated himself to painting. Being interested in horses, he joined the studio of a well-known horse painter, Carle Vernet, and then that of Pierre Guérin. In 1816 he weny to Italy, returning to Paris in 1817. In 1820, when he was 29, he visited England. While there, he started work on a series of lithographs, drawings and color sketches about mental patients. He was a major figure in the “romantic” school of painting.