Wounded Soldiers Retrating from Russia
by GÉRICAULT, Théodore, Pencil, pen and brown ink, watercolour, 250 x 206 mm
In spite of his Classical schooling, G�ricault broke with traditional themes and forms to set the tone for the developments in French Romanticism. In this picture he took up the theme of a topical historical event. Exhausted almost to the point of death by hunger and cold, these wounded men struggle through a desert of ice. Far from glorifying the soldier’s life, G�ricault depicted the misery of their extreme situation - an approach in tune with the spirit of his age.