THÉODORE GÉRICAULT (ROUEN, 1791 – PARIS, 1824) Two lions pulling a chariot, after Peter Paul Rubens (detail from The Meeting of the King and Marie de Médicis in Lyon, 9 November 1600, Louvre Museum, Paris). 1811–1812 Oil on canvas. 45.8 x 55.2 cm. On the reverse, on the stretcher, a red wax seal of the Pierre Dubaut collection. Provenance According to Ph. Grunchec and G. Bazin: Catalogue of ancient and modern paintings by or attributed to Bastien-Lepage, […], Géricault, […], watercolours and gouaches, drawings […] that made up the collection of Mr F. Funck-Brentano, Henri Baudoin, auctioneer, Marignane, expert, Paris, Hôtel Drouot, Room No. 1, 29 April 1921, Lot No. 179: ‘Géricault. Copy after Rubens of the lions from The Life of Henry IV, in the Louvre. / Painting. / Canvas. Height, 50 cent; width, 61 cent”. Paris, collection of Pierre-Olivier Dubaut (1886–1968), probably from 1937, painter and collector. Paris, collection of Maxime Dubaut (1920–1991), painter. Paris, collection of Jacqueline Dubaut-Bellonte (1926–2012), gallery owner Exhibition Künstlerkopien, Basel, Kunsthalle, 18 September – 17 October 1937, no. 78: ‘Géricault, copy after Rubens. From the story of Maria de’ Medici/. Detail from The Marriage of Henry IV to Maria de’ Medici (Louvre). / For sale’ Bibliography Philippe Grunchec, ‘The posthumous inventory of Théodore Géricault (1791–1824)’, in Bulletin de la Société de l’Histoire de l’art français, 1976, 1978, p. 415, note 44: Géricault, Two Lions, after Rubens, formerly in the collection of Pierre Dubaut. Philippe Grunchec, The Complete Paintings of Géricault, with an introduction by Jacques Thuillier, Paris, Flammarion, 1978, p. 88, no. 18, reprinted as: ‘Géricault, Two Lions, after Rubens, 1808–1812, oil on canvas, 45 × 55 cm, Paris, private collection’ Germain Bazin, Théodore Géricault. Critical Study, Documents and Catalogue Raisonné, Vol. II, The Work, Formative Period, Paris, Bibliothèque des arts, 1987, p. 434, no. 320, ill.: “Unknown artist, Two Lions, after Rubens, oil on canvas, 45 x 55 cm, Paris, private collection”. Philippe Grunchec, The Complete Paintings of Géricault, with an introduction by Jacques Thuillier, Paris, Flammarion, 1991 [1978 edition, revised and expanded], p. 88, no. 18, ill.: ‘Géricault, Two Lions, after Rubens, 1808–1812, oil on canvas, 45 x 55 cm, Paris, private collection. Germain Bazin, who admits to not having seen the painting, prefers to reserve judgement’. Bruno Chenique, ‘Théodore Géricault, Two Lions, copy after Rubens’, 19th- and 20th-Century Paintings and Sculpture. Pierre Dubaut Collection, Arcurial-Deauville, James Fattori and Bernard de Reviers, auctioneers, Cabinet Turquin-Mauduit, Deauville, 22 August 2009, pp. 14–16, no. 17. This work will be included in the Catalogue raisonné of Théodore Géricault’s paintings, currently being prepared by Mr Bruno Chenique. Scientific examinations Painting examined by Lumière Technology (now The Whole Picture) in June 2009. Certificate Bruno Chenique – 2022 Like two horses harnessed to a chariot, these two lions display behaviour similar to that of equines: one puts a paw forward as if parading, whilst the other appears to be neighing. The team of horses, of which only the front of the chariot is visible, is indeed incongruous as it is allegorical in nature. The aim is, in fact, to evoke a historical event in a mythological context where, in the original painting by Peter Paul Rubens (1577–1640), Henry IV, depicted as Jupiter, meets Marie de’ Medici, depicted as Juno, in the city of Lyon, symbolised by a young woman seated in a chariot drawn by these two eponymous lions. From Rubens’s painting, Géricault chose to focus on the lions, omitting the putti originally depicted on their backs. As much an animal painter as a portraitist or history painter, Géricault, whilst he enjoyed painting his animals from life, was also skilled at copying them from the great masters, notably by visiting the Louvre, an inexhaustible source of inspiration. Here, he reproduces Rubens’s style, colour palette and vitality, but brings his own personal experience to bear with a freer touch that recalls the lions he had observed from life at the Jardin des Plantes.