Жерико о себе и современники о нем

The term “romanticism” was first used in relation to painting in connection with the name of Theodore Gericault. And it would hardly be an exaggeration to call him the founder of this powerful movement, which already in the second decade of the 19th century replaced classicism in French fine art. Gericault lived in a noisy time, in an era of historical turning point. He was born at the height of the French Revolution, his youth coincided with the Napoleonic wars, and his mature years coincided with the return of Napoleon's defeated army to his homeland. The feeling of the deep drama of life forced him to discard the rationalistic illusions of the classicists... The first part of the collection publishes an article by Louis Batissier “The Life of Gericault”, in the second part the artist’s letters and contemporaries’ memories of him are given in chronological order, in the third part the reader can get acquainted with the theoretical treatises of Gericault, the final part contains assessments of the artist’s work.