Théodore Géricault on His Deathbed

Painting and Sculpture of Europe

1824

Charles Emile Callande de Champmartin
French, 1797-1883

This haunting image of a dead man swathed in white sheets was thought to have been painted by Théodore Géricault until a cleaning revealed the signature of his friend and follower Charles Emile Champmartin. More recent research has shown that the painting depicts Géricault himself on his deathbed, having succumbed to chronic tubercular infection at the young age of 32. Géricault’s early death and bold artistry, which sought to challenge classical notions of beauty, made him emblematic of the trope of the tragic Romantic artist. Images depicting his passing circulated throughout the 19th century, and talismanic copies of his death mask populated young artists’ studios.

Status: Currently Off View
Department: Painting and Sculpture of Europe

Artist: Charles Emile Champmartin
Title: Théodore Géricault on His Deathbed
Place: France (Artist's nationality:)
Date Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.: 1824
Medium: Oil on canvas
Inscriptions: Inscribed upper left: C [or E] Champmartin
Dimensions: 45.6 × 55.6 cm (17 15/16 × 21 7/8 in.)
Credit Line: A. A. Munger Collection
Reference Number: 1937.502
IIIF Manifest The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) represents a set of open standards that enables rich access to digital media from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions around the world. Learn more.: https://api.artic.edu/api/v1/artworks/110776/manifest.json

Paul Adry, “L’Exposition Géricault,” L’Amour de l’Art 18 (May 1937), p. 41.
Klaus Berger, Gericault und sein Werk (Vienna, 1952), pl. 52, pp. 43, 72. (English trans. by Winslow Ames, (Vienna, 1955), pl. 52, pp. 53-55).
Theodore Rousseau, “De David à Toulouse-Lautrec dans Les Collections Americains,” Art et Style 34 (1955), n.p.
Walter Friedländer, David to Delacroix (Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1952), p. 97ff, pl. 57.
Denise Aimé-Azam, Mazeppa, Géricault and son temps (Paris, 1956), p. 216.
P. Bouffard, “Théodore Géricault, Tête de Supplicié,” Geneva 4 (November 1956), pp. 93-96.
The Art Institute of Chicago, An Illustrated Guide to the Collections of the Art Institute of Chicago (Chicago, 1956), p. 33.
Lorenz Eitner, “The Sale of Géricault’s Studio in 1924,” Gazette des Beaux-Arts 6 per, 53 (1959), p. 125, n. 20.
The Art Institute of Chicago, Paintings in The Art Institute of Chicago: A Catalogue of the Picture Collection (Chicago, 1961), p.173, ill. p. 232.
Antonio del Guercio, Géricault (Milan, 1963), p. 66.
John Maxon, The Art Institute of Chicago (London, 1970), pp. 263, 281.
Lorenz Eitner, Gericault’s Raft of the Medusa (London, 1972), p. 165, no. 82, pl. 92.
Richard Brettell, French Salon Artists, 1800-1900 (Chicago, 1987), pp. 14, 15, 17, 117.
C. Sells, “New Light on Gericault, His Travels and His Friends,” Apollo (June 1986), pp. 394-95, fig. 6.
Michel Schneider, Un Rêve de Pierre: Le Radeau de la Méduse, Géricault (Paris, 1991), p. 177-8.
Nina Athanassoglou-Kallmyer, “Gericault’s Severed Heads and Limbs: The Politics and Aesthetics of the Scaffold,” Art Bulletin 74 (1992), p. 615, fig. 21.
Linda Nochlin. The Body in Pieces: The Fragment as Metaphor of Modernity (New York and London, 1994), pp. 22-23, fig. 18.
Germain Bazin, Théodore Géricault: Étude crtique, documents et catalogue raisonné vol. 6 (Paris, 1994), p. 38.
Danial Sangsue, “De Quelques têtes Coupées dans la Literature du XIX Siècle”, Crime & Châtiment, Exh. cat. (Musée d’Orsay, 2010), p. 81, cat. 23.

Paris, Bernheim-Jeune Galerie, Exposition Géricault: Peintre et Dessinateur (1791-1824), May 10-29, 1937, cat. 44.
The Art Institute of Chicago, Gros, Géricault, Delacroix, December 15, 1938-January 15, 1939, not included in catalogue, traveled to New York, Knoedler and Company, November 21-December 10, 1938; shown in Chicago only.
Hartford, Conn., The Wadsworth Atheneum, Night Scenes, February 15-March 7, 1940, cat. 43.
Paris, Musée de L’Orangerie, De David à Toulouse-Lautrec: Chefs d’Oeuvre des Collections Américaines, April 20-July, 1955, cat. 31, pl. 9.
Cambridge, Mass., Fogg Art Museum, Sublimity and Sensibility: The Genesis of Romanticism, April 30-May 31, 1965, cat. 15.
London, Victoria and Albert Museum, Berlioz and the Romantic Imagination, October 17-December 14, 1969, cat. 43.
The Los Angeles County Museum Art, Géricault, October 12 - December 12, 1971, cat. 92 (ill.), traveled to The Detroit Institute of Arts, January 23-March 7, 1972 and Philadelphia Museum of Art, March 30-May 14, 1972.
Chapel Hill, NC, The William Hayes Ackland Memorial Art Center, French Nineteenth Century Oil Sketches: David to Dégas, March 5-April 16, 1978, cat. 36 (ill.).
Berlin, Staatliche Museen Preussischer Kulturbesitz, Bilder von Menschen in der Kunst des Abendlandes, July 5-September 28, 1980, cat. 12.
Paris, Galeries nationales du Grand Palais, Gericault, October 10, 1991-January 6, 1992, cat. 183, ill. 220.
Paris, France, Musée d’Orsay, Crime and Punishment, March 15- June 27, 2010, cat. 23.

Possibly Champmartin Sale, Paris, Hôtel Drouot, January 28-29, 1884, lot 273 [see Paris 1992]. Possibly Sale, Paris, Hôtel Drouot, January 28, 1888, lot 112 [see Paris 1992]. Foynard, Paris; sold to Richard Goetz, Paris, by about 1914 [according to Richard Goetz’s letter of December 14, 1937 to Robert Harshe, stating that he acquired the picture “at ‘Monsieur Foynard’ before war, the same as all my other Gericaults I bought at the period. Formerly in the collection ‘Chamartin’ (sic),” copy in curatorial file]; sold with sequestered property of Richard Goetz, Paris, Hôtel Drouot, February 23-24, 1922, lot 138, but presumably bought in and retained by Goetz [see copy of annotated sale catalogue from Clark Art Institute, Williamstown, in curatorial file]; sold through J. Rosner, Paris, as agent for Richard Goetz, to the Art Institute in November 1937 [based on receipt 6376 in Registrar’s office and letter from Goetz to Harshe cited above; see also Adry 1937].

Object information is a work in progress and may be updated as new research findings emerge. To help improve this record, please email . Information about image downloads and licensing is available here.

Currently Off View

Status

Department

Artist

Title

Place

Date Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.

Medium

Inscriptions

Dimensions

Credit Line

Reference Number

IIIF Manifest The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) represents a set of open standards that enables rich access to digital media from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions around the world.

Learn more.

Explore Further

Suggested Terms

See all hours

Currently Off View

Date:

Artist:

About this artwork

Status

Department

Artist

Title

Place

Date Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.

Medium

Inscriptions

Dimensions

Credit Line

Reference Number

IIIF Manifest The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) represents a set of open standards that enables rich access to digital media from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions around the world. Learn more.

Extended information about this artwork

Publication History

Exhibition History

Provenance

Share

Explore Further

Sign up for our enewsletter to receive updates.

Gallery actions

Image actions

Share

IIIF Manifest The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) represents a set of open standards that enables rich access to digital media from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions around the world.

Learn more.