Portrait of a Woman Suffering from Obsessive Envy
Théodore Géricault, 1819-1820
Oil on canvas, 28 1/4" x 22 3/4"
Musée des Beaux-Arts, Lyons, France
French painter Théodore Géricault was a pioneer of the Romantic movement whose dramatic works profoundly influenced nineteenth-century art. His bold, colorful, energetic brushwork reflected his passionate personality and revived the great traditions of Baroque painting that Géricault had studied when copying works by Velazquez, Rubens, and Rembrandt. Through his painting, Géricault attempted to convey the intensity of human experience.

Before his early death at age 32, Géricault completed a series of portraits of the insane. The paintings possibly were commissioned by Dr. Étienne-Jean Georget, one of the fathers of modern psychiatry, to depict various mental diseases. This portrait is notable for its psychological penetration and sympathetic, expressive realism. By portraying a true clinical likeness of this madwoman, Géricault departs from the traditional rules of portraiture. [ Detail ]