François GERARD, known as BARON GERARD (Rome, 1770 - Paris, 1837) Grieving Woman by the Bed of the Death of Patroclus Original canvas Height : 64,5 cm Width: 78 cm (accidents) Bibliography : Henri Gérard, Oeuvre du Baron Gérard, Paris, Firmin-Didot, 1857. Le Baron Gérard son neveu, Lettres adressées au baron François Gérard, peintre d'histoire, par les artistes et les personnages célèbres famous people of his time. Volume 2, third edition (consulted) 1888, p.400: "Fragments de paintings Kneeling woman with her hair splayed, near the deathbed of Patroclus (1810)". Recognised by his peers as the greatest portraitist of his time, François Gérard also produced history paintings, some of which have become emblematic (Psyche and Love, Musée du Louvre and L'Entrée d'Henri IV à Paris, Château de Versailles). Our painting is a fragment of the ambitious composition Achilles swearing to avenge the death of Patroclus, painted in in 1810, a monumental project measuring 4.75 x 7.25 m, inspired by the Iliad, and on which Gérard worked for over for more than 20 years. Several preparatory drawings are known, and are kept in the Louvre (inventory: RF 35648, RF 35650) and on the Paris art market. on the Paris art market in 2005. Dissatisfied with the result, the artist decided to destroy and cut the painting into several pieces. into several pieces. The fragment shown here of a grieving woman in the middle of the canvas, in the foreground. in the foreground. François Gérard produced a second version of the composition, acquired by the State in 1852 and deposited in the Musée de Caen, where it was reduced to ashes during the 1944 bombardments. We would like to thank Alain Latreille for confirming the attribution of this painting, based on digital photographs, and for the information he provided. digital photographs, and for the information he provided for the writing of this notice.