The Wounded Cuirassier

The Wounded Cuirassier

French: Le Cuirassier blessé quittant le feu
Artist	Théodore Géricault
Year	1814
Type	Oil on canvas
Dimensions	358 cm × 294 cm (141 in × 116 in)
Location	Musée du Louvre in Paris and Brooklyn Museum in New York City

The Wounded Cuirassier (French: Le Cuirassier blessé quittant le feu) is an oil painting of a single anonymous soldier descending a slope with his horse by the French Romantic painter and lithographer Théodore Géricault (1791–1824). In this 1814 Salon entry, Géricault decided to depict a different view of battle than the generally done views of entire battles or of famous generals bravely fighting. On display just a few months after Napoleon's fall from power, this life-size painting symbolized the French defeats and Napoleon's failure.^[1] Though the painting is called "The Wounded Cuirassier", there are no visible wounds on the soldier. Additionally, though Géricault generally created several drafts before settling on a final design, there do not seem to be any paintings of his that could be considered precursors to this painting. Only his Signboard of a Hoofsmith, which is currently in a private collection, bears any resemblance in form or function to this painting.^[2]

The two known copies of the painting are at the Musée du Louvre and at the Brooklyn Museum.

External links

• The Wounded Cuirassier at the Brooklyn Museum website.
• Cuirassier blessé quittant le feu at the Louvre official site (in French)

References

1. "Collections: European Art: The Wounded Cuirassier, study (Le Cuirassier blessé quittant le feu, esquisse)". Brooklyn Museum. Retrieved 2014-08-02.
2. Eitner, Lorenz (August 1954). "Géricault’s Wounded Cuirassier". The Burlington Magazine. Vol. 96 no. 617. pp. 236–238.