Théodore GÉRICAULT (1791-1824) Portrait of Galaor, the artist's dog About 1818-1819 Watercolour over graphite pencil lines 15.5 x 15.5 cm PROVENANCE : - Bro de Comères family collection until 1925 - Collection of Edouard Mortier, Duke of Treviso until 1946 - Galerie Aubry in 1964 - Private collection EXHIBITIONS : - Géricault Centenary Exhibition, organised by the Duc de Trévise, No. 223, Paris, Galerie Charpentier, 24 April-16 May 1924 - Géricault Exhibition, Musée des Beaux-Arts de Rouen, 1924 - Exhibition Géricault, peintre et dessinateur (1791-1824), organised in aid of the "Sauvegarde de l'Art français", introduction by the Duc de Trévise, catalogue by Pierre Dubaut, n°225. Paris, Galerie Bernheim-Jeune, 10 May - 29 May 1937 - Géricault cet inconnu exhibition, n°63. Paris, Galerie Étienne Bignou, May 1950. - Exhibition Gros-Géricault-Delacroix. Organised in memory of the Duc de Trévise, president of the Sauvegarde de l'Art français, by M. M. Dubaut, Delestre et Lebel, n°68. Paris, Galerie Bernheim-Jeune, 9 January - 15 March 1954. - Géricault exhibition, organised for the benefit of the Société des Amis du Louvre, catalogue by Claude Roger-Marx, n°50. Paris, Galerie Claude Aubry, 6 November - 7 December 1964. BIBLIOGRAPHY : - CLÉMENT Charles, Géricault: étude biographique et critique avec le catalogue raisonné de l'oeuvre du maître, n°57, p. 338. Didier, Paris, 1868. "Galaor, a dog of the mastiff species that belonged to Géricault. He is lying with half his body sticking out of his stone kennel. Watercolour. To Colonel Olivier Bro de Comères". - Catalogue of the Géricault Centenary Exhibition, n°223 p. 72, 1924. - EITNER Lorenz, Charles Clément, Géricault, Paris-Laget, p. 463, 1973. - BAZIN Germain, Géricault, tome V, p. 73. Wildenstein Institute, La bibliothèque des Arts, Paris, 1987-1992. "Clément catalogued at n°57 (drawings) a certain "Galaor". A mastiff that belonged to Géricault, he is lying with half his body outside his stone kennel. Watercolour. To Colonel O. Bro de Comères. H. 0,155 ; L. 0,155 ". NOTE: This watercolour by Théodore Géricault depicts his dog, lying in a niche with its head sticking out. The dog, of indeterminate breed, is called Galaor, probably named in derision of the Comte d'Artois (Charles X), who used to be called that in his youth (Bazin, p.73). In fact, this drawing dates from the period when the artist, a former musketeer to the king, joined the opposition. It remained in the Bro de Comères family, close friends of the painter, for almost a hundred years, before passing into the collection of the Duke of Treviso, and finally into a private collection. It can be compared with a sketch of the same animal in a niche, kept at the Art Institute of Chicago, part of a notebook from the period 1818-1819. Géricault's watercolour has been described by : Hubert DUCHEMIN, 8, rue de Louvois, 75002 PARIS +33(0)1.42.60.83.01, [email protected]