A cart-horse and a postilion at the door of a forge

This highly finished watercolor is of a subject that Géricault treated repeatedly throughout his career, in drawings, paintings and lithographs. They form a group distinct from his other equestrian compositions, the appeal perhaps derived from the combination of horseflesh and dramatic lighting conditions, and reflect a life-long interest. Charles Clément, in his biography of the artist, notes that as a teenager he would spend his holdiays with his father's family in Rouen 'vis-à-vis de la boutique d'un maréchal ferrant; il y allait le matin et n'en revenait qu'à la nuit: un jour il lui peignit une ensigne pour sa boutique; un amateur anglais la vit, voulut l'acheter, en offrit 800 fr.' ('[he lived] opposite a farrier's shop, going there in the morning and not returning until nightfall. One day he painted a sign for the shop, which an English collector saw and tried to buy for 800 francs'; C. Clément, Géricault, ed. L. Eitner, Paris, 1973, p. 17). Among the many compositions invented by the artist the three London period lithographs, of Flemish, English and French Farriers (Delteil 33, 39 and 41), and the later painting of The Village Forge now in the Wadsworth Atheneum, Hartford, are the closest in spirit to the present watercolor.