The Charging Chasseur

Géricault's The Charging Chasseur of 1812, exhibited at the Salon at twenty-one, made him immediately famous with its dynamic image of a French cavalry officer wheeling his horse in the midst of battle — a subject that combined technical virtuosity in horse and figure painting with military Romantic energy. The painting's debt to Rubens's equestrian compositions is obvious, but Géricault transformed the Baroque model into something specifically contemporary and French, the chasseur's uniform and the battle smoke placing heroic convention within actual Napoleonic experience. The work launched one of the most remarkable careers in French painting.

The explosive diagonal composition of the rearing horse and twisting rider creates a sense of violent motion. Géricault's rich, Rubensian palette and energetic brushwork convey the chaos and excitement of cavalry warfare with visceral power.