Lara Artist: Théodore Géricault (French, 1791–1824)
Artist: In collaboration wtih Eugene Lami (French, 1800–1890)

1823

Prints and Drawings

By appointment, Duffy Study Room

Romantic artists, writers, and composers were fascinated by the “Orient”—a term that during the period was used rather loosely to describe any non-Western society. Thus it is not surprising that Théodore Géricault selected four of Lord Byron’s Orientalist poems as subjects for this highly theatrical lithographic suite. The theme of each centers on a conflict between Eastern and Western perceptions of love, death, and the afterlife. Each celebrates the triumph of freedom over tyranny, and the power of passion and conviction to overcome monumental obstacles. Géricault’s illustrations also allude to the concurrent struggle for Greek independence from the Turks (1821–32). Byron’s death in April 1824 on the battlefields at Missolonghi, while fighting for the Greek cause, marked a tragically ironic coda to the publication of these lithographs in 1823.

Medium

Lithograph

Dimensions

image: 5 5/16 × 7 1/16 in. (13.5 × 18 cm)

Credit Line

Gift of Charles Y. Lazarus, B.A. 1936

Accession Number

1956.3.78

Culture

French

Period

19th century

Classification

Prints

Disclaimer

Note: This electronic record was created from historic documentation that does not necessarily reflect the Yale University Art Gallery’s complete or current knowledge about the object. Review and updating of records is ongoing.

Object copyright
No Copyright - United States
Additional information

Object/Work type

lithographs

Inscriptions

in stone, upper center: LARA.\r\nin stone, lower left: Géricault et Eug. Lami 1823\r\nin stone, lower right: Lith. de Villain\r\nin stone, lower center: Un des soldats qui l'entouraient découvrit le signe rédempteur de la Croix ; Lara le fixe / avec un oeil profane qu'il détourne aussitôt.... pour Kaled, il éloigna la main qui portait le signe sacré.... / Chez Gihaut frères, éditeurs. [One of the soldiers who was surrounding him shows the saving sign of the Cross; Lara fixes him / with a profane eye that turns away from him immediately..... for Kaled, he has moved away the hand that held the sacred sign.... / At the Gihaut Brothers', publishers.] \r\n\r\n[Text based on a poem by Lord Byron:\r\nLara. Stanza XIX:\r\nTo look on Lara's brow--where all grew night...\r\nFor when one near display'd the absolving cross,...\r\nAnd Kaled, though he spoke not, nor withdrew\r\nFrom Lara's face his fix'd despairing view,...]

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