82. Jean-Louis André Théodore Géricault (Rouen 1791-1824 Paris) Study for the Raft of the Medusa (recto); Study of a figure for one of the characters in the Raft of the Medusa (verso) black stone, pen and brown ink on paper black chalk, pen and brown ink on paper 12 x 20cm (4 3/4 x 7 7/8in). This lot, along with the next two, is an important addition to the catalogue of drawings by Jean-Louis André Théodore Géricault. Kept by the same family since the end of the 19th century, they remain unpublished to this day. The front of this sheet shows one of the very few preparatory studies for the scene of the mutiny on the raft of Medusa (cf. Lorenz Eitner Géricault's Raft of the Medusa, Phaidon, 1972, pp. 140-143). The ten or so general studies known today for the Raft of the Medusa make it possible to follow the development of Géricault's masterpiece step by step, and the successive changes in the composition (see, in particular, Bazin, op. cit. nos. 1925, 1927, 1928, 1940, 1948, 1952, 1958, 1960, 1961, 1967 and 1968). This drawing marks an important moment in the production of the painting in the Louvre, completed in 1819. Géricault also used the back of this sheet to quickly study one of the figures in the same composition: the nude man, seen from behind, in preparation for the standing figure waving his shirt. We would like to thank Philippe Grunchec for confirming this attribution after analysing the drawing.