An Arabian Horse in Harness

Bazin notes that near the end of his life, Géricault drew a series of Arab, Mameluk, Turkish, and Persian cavaliers and grooms with their Arabian mounts and numerous studies of Arabian horses with their distinctive harnesses. Arabian horses were mounted from the left side, and this view depicts the opposite flank. It is one of several studies made in preparation for a watercolor in the Louvre (RF 802) that shows the animal from the left side standing in shallow water with the hint of a surrounding landscape. That Géricault planned to show the horse with its hooves in water explains why he left them unfinished in this study.