A study for the lithograph from the series Etudes de Chevaux par Géricault by Villain and Volmar, published by Gihault after 1823, F. Bergot, op. cit., no. 76, illustrated. The series was a continuation of the very successful Suite Anglaise, or Etudes de chevaux d'après nature, engraved by Géricault and published by Gihaut in 1822, Delteil, 46-57 and F. Bergot, op. cit., no. 47-58, illustrated. Because of the oval format of the later series, Professor Eitner, in a letter to the previous owner dated 30 December 1995, suggested that the drawing was in fact intended for the Suite Anglaise and was later used by Géricault when Gihaut commissioned him an additional series only on horses.
Eitner kindly confirms the attribution of the present drawing to Géricault. The compositions of the lithograph and that of the present drawing are very close though, as Professor Eitner points out, 'several significant pentimenti in the pencil underdrawing, the window above the head of the groom, left out in the final execution, the position of the groom's legs, the left hand of the young woman...' are in the present drawing; 'these are changes that in my opinion exclude the possibility of Volmar's authorship or participation in the drawing'. Eitner adds that the treatment of the wash 'giving something of the effect of a watercolor' is typical of Géricault.
We are grateful to Professor Eitner for his help in cataloguing the present drawing.