Study of a reclining male nude

For Bazin, this study of a prostrate young man, supported by a lightly-sketched figure behind, belonged among the studies of figures and compositions after the Antique which Géricault executed around 1815-17. However, the pose of the figure is remarkably similar to that of the dead youth embraced by his father in the foreground of Géricault's masterpiece, The raft of the Medusa (Paris, Louvre). The present drawing may be one of the many anatomical studies that Géricault made at the Beaujon Hospital while preparing his picture.