The Race of the Riderless Horses

Théodore Géricault

1817

Oil and pen and ink on paper laid on canvas, Oil, Pen, Ink

J. Paul Getty Museum

A chaotic scene depicts several muscular figures struggling to control a group of rearing and galloping horses. The background features classical architecture with columns. As a boy, Théodore Géricault loved drawing horses and would sit in the stables watching and sketching. In 1817, he traveled to Rome where he witnessed the annual Carnival horse race and subsequently made numerous studies of this spectacle. This study marks the moment just before the race begins, when the terrified riderless horses begin their run down the Corso in Rome.A groom tries to contain a rearing horse in the center, while other men all around push and pull the wild animals, goading them into a frenzied stampede. Géricault used virtually monochromatic colors applied in thick swirls to animate and suggest extreme physical stre