Mazeppa and the Wolves

Horace Vernet's Mazeppa and the Wolves of 1826 depicts the wild ride of the Ukrainian hetman Ivan Mazepa — strapped naked to a horse by an outraged Polish nobleman and driven into the wilderness — from Byron's 1819 poem. The subject had recently been treated by Géricault and would obsess Louis Boulanger, but Vernet's version emphasizes the naturalist observation of the horse's dynamic motion and the menace of the pursuing wolf pack. The Romantic taste for such scenes of helpless human immersion in savage animal energy provided Vernet's military animal painting expertise with literary validation.

The dramatic composition places the helpless figure on the galloping horse against a twilight sky with pursuing wolves. Vernet's mastery of equine anatomy and dynamic movement creates a powerful image of Romantic terror.