Théodore Géricault (Rouen 1791-1824 Paris)Portrait of a man, probably the engraver Francois Godefroy (d. 1819), on his deathbed oil on canvas19.1 x 24.5cm (7 1/2 x 9 5/8in). Footnotes:Provenance (Possibly) Charles-Emile Callande de Champmartin (1797-1883)(Possibly) His sale, Hotel Drouot, Paris, 28-29 January 1884, lot 273 (as Géricault, Portrait de Godefroy, graveur, this sale was cancelled)(Possibly) His sale, Hotel Drouot, Paris, 28 January 1888, lot 112 (as 'Attributed to Géricault, Godefroy, graveur, sur son lit de mort)Private Collection, Paris Literature B. Chenique, Géricault, au coeur de la creation romantique; etudes pour la Radeau de la Meduse, exh. cat., Clermont-Ferrand, 2012, p.230, no. 37, ill. Exhibited Clermont-Ferrand, Musee d'Art Roger-Quillot, Géricault, au coeur de la creation romantique. Etudes pour le Radeau de la Meduse, 2 June - 3 September 2012, cat. no. 37 This intimate oil sketch, painted the same year as Géricault's masterpiece The Raft of the Medusa, represents an extremely important addition to this major artist's oeuvre. It is almost certainly the picture from the collection of Émile Champmartin, who was Géricault's friend and fellow apprentice in the studio of Pierre Guérin. Long known to scholars only through sale catalogues, its recent rediscovery adds considerably to our understanding of an artist working at the forefront of the emerging Romantic movement, during the turbulent early years of the Bourbon Restoration. Until this painting surfaced recently in a private collection in Paris, references to a portrait of 'Godefroy, graveur, sur son lit de mort' in the Champmartin sale catalogues were believed to describe a work acquired by the Art Institute of Chicago in 1937. That work, likewise a small oil sketch of a man's head, bore an old label that seemingly confirmed its provenance: 'Géricault (Th)/69 – Tête d'homme sur son lit de mort, provident de la coll. Champmartin'. Evidently a cutting from an old sale catalogue, the label had yet to be traced in 1991. The art historian Lorenz Eitner defended the attribution to Géricault in his two major studies of the artist (1971 and 1983), albeit without attempting to identify the model. It was Philippe Grunchec (1978) who first doubted the attribution of the Chicago picture to Géricault on the grounds that the drapery, in particular, bore no resemblance to other works by the artist. When the Chicago picture was finally cleaned of old restorations in 1985, Grunchec's suspicions were confirmed: the cleaning revealed a bold signature in red, 'E. Champmartin'. By the time of the Géricault exhibition, held at the Grand Palais in Paris in 1991, the Chicago picture was known to be by Champmartin. Curator Sylvain Laveissière revisited the question of the model's identity at this point, postulating 'si l'on croit les catalogues des ventes Champmartin, le modele serait Godefroy, graveur'. Parmi les artistes de ce nom contemporains, le meilleur candidats est François Godefroy, né en 1743...et mort l'année meme du Radeau de la Meduse.' Laveissière's identification of the model as 'probably François Godefroy' is based on the mention of the aforementioned painting entitled 'Godefroy, graveur, sur son lit de mort' in the Champmartin sale catalogues. M. Laveissière further restates Grunchec's hypothesis that the painting in the Champmartin sale catalogues (1884 and 1888) was in fact the Chicago picture, now known to be a signed work by Champmartin. Born in Rouen in 1743, Godefroy was a successful and prolific engraver with a thriving studio in Paris. He can be linked to Géricault through the Coiny family of engravers, father and son; the younger Coiny, Joseph, was awarded the Prix de Rome in 1816, the same year in which Géricault competed unsuccessfully. Even more tellingly, Godefroy died in Paris on 28 April 1819, aged 76 – just four months before the Salon at which Géricault unveiled the Raft of the Medusa, in preparation for which he made a number of studies in oil of cadavers. Unusual though it might seem to us today, for 19th century artists the practice of painting corpses followed a longstanding academic tradition. In-depth studies of human anatomy, based on dissections and drawing from nude models and ancient sculpture, were fundamental for Renaissance masters, such as Leonardo and Michelangelo. It was in this classical Academic tradition that Géricault received his earliest training, in the studio of Pierre-Narcisse Guérin. However, the talented but disobedient Géricault did not last long in this environment of strict instruction. Abandoning his apprenticeship, Géricault began his own programme of independent study, setting up his easel in the Louvre, recently renamed the Musée Napoleon and filled with the artistic spoils of conquest from Italy and Flanders. He bypassed the classicists such as Raphael and turned instead to works by Rubens, Titian, Velázquez and Rembrandt. These were the masters of colorito painting, in which the tones and physicality of the paint medium reign supreme over elegant contours. Travel to Italy in 1816-17 reinforced Géricault's reliance on colorito, which lends itself readily to the turbulence and emotion that characterise the Romantic style. As one of the early proponents of Romanticism, Géricault laid the groundwork for the subsequent generation of French masters, including Delacroix and Courbet. It was in Italy that Géricault began his practice of painting contemporary events in the elevated manner of history painting. Upon his return to France, Géricault chose as his subject for the 1819 Salon The Raft of the Medusa, a monumental representation of man's struggle against nature (fig. 1). In order more accurately to depict the shipwrecked passengers, Géricault made a number of studies at local hospitals and of victims of the guillotine. A friend of the artist, Théodore Lebrun, recalls posing for Géricault when he fell sick with jaundice; Géricault, upon spotting Lebrun's sickly pallor, exclaimed 'Ah! Mon ami, comme vous êtes beau!' It is to this important moment in Géricault's career that the oil sketch of Godefroy can be dated. Demonstrating all the hallmarks of Géricault's mature style, the forms are defined by heavy impasto brushwork, with alternating areas of illumination and deep shadow suggesting a candlelit interior. The small scale of the work lends it an air of intimacy: although it can be linked, artistically, to such grim studies as the Severed head of a man (private collection, Paris) and Le Guillotiné (Musée Royale d'Art Moderne, Brussels), it is a dignified rather than a gruesome representation of death and in this regard recalls Renaissance postmortem portraiture, and even religious iconography. There is an ambiguity to the old man's half-closed eyes and sunken cheeks that suggests the space between living and dead, sleeping and dying. It is altogether a subtler, more sensitive painting than that by Champmartin in Chicago and is a testament to Géricault's enduring appeal among today's contemporary artists, including Lucien Freud. This work has historically been excluded from Géricault scholarship simply because it has, until now, been unknown to experts. Charles Clément, the first chronicler of Géricault's work, was unable to interview the elderly M. Champmartin, which explains why works in his collection receive no mention in his monograph. This omission has been compounded in all subsequent scholarship. However M. Bruno Chenique, who has had the opportunity to study this work first-hand and has confirmed its attribution in a letter, dated 8 September 2013, will include it in his forthcoming catalogue raisonné, currently in preparation.... For further information on this lot please visit Bonhams.com