The Retreat from Russia
by GÉRICAULT, Théodore, Lithograph, 445 x 362 mm
Like Goya G�ricault turned to printmaking, choosing the new technique of lithography to reach a popular audience. There is pity in his lithographs of the wounded returning from campaign, above all in The Retreat from Russia. These exhausted soldiers stand for an entire nation; but that they have not lost their pride is clear from a companion print, in which a one-legged veteran defiantly shows off his campaign medals to a slouching Swiss guard outside the Louvre, forcing him to present arms.