De kolenwagen

About this artwork

verzamelaarsmerk, verso midden onder, gestempeld: Lugt 2760

Art Historical Context

### De Kolenwagen (The Coal Wagon) Step into the gritty streets of early 19th-century Europe Théodore Géricault'sDe kolenwagen* (The Coal Wagon), a poignant 1821 lithography measuring just 195 × 310 mm. Created in the final years of Géricault's short life—he died at 32—this print captures the artist's fascination with raw, everyday realism. Best known for his monumental Romantic masterpiece *The Raft of the Medusa* (1819), Géricault turned to lithography, a revolutionary medium invented just two decades earlier, to explore urban life and labor with dramatic intensity. Lithography allowed Géricault to draw directly on lithographic stone with greasy crayon, producing rich tonal gradations and textures that mimicked charcoal sketches—perfect for evoking the coal wagon's heavy, smoke-laden atmosphere. As a pioneer in the technique, he produced a series of prints around 1821, blending Romantic dynamism with proto-realist detail, influencing later artists like Daumier. This small-scale work likely depicts a horse-drawn cart laden with coal, symbolizing the industrializing world's toil. A collector's mark (Lugt 2760) stamped on the verso attests to its esteemed provenance, linking it to discerning 19th- or 20th-century connoisseurs. Géricault's bold use of lithography democratized art, making such vivid scenes accessible beyond oil paintings. A gem for print enthusiasts! (198 words)

About the Artist

Théodore Géricault · 1791–1824

Théodore Géricault (1791-1824) stands as one of the most influential pioneers of French Romanticism, despite a career tragically cut short at age thirty-two. Born in Rouen on September 26, 1791, into a wealthy family, Géricault's brief but intense artistic life transformed the trajectory of nineteenth-century European painting. Géricault began his formal training in 1808 under Carle Vernet, maste...