The Louvre—Again

Géricault began studying formally in 1808 with Carle Vernet, a French painter who specialized in horses. His son, Émile Jean-Horace Vernet was a close friend. The two of them had studios on Rue des Martyrs, Géricault at No. 23, Vernet at No. 11, but the gardens of the two studios were connected by an off-street path.

Vernet is another of those characters who I was ignoring, but who now seems to provide potential "glue," connecting my characters. This is a self-portrait of Vernet, painted in 1835—I'm pretty sure that's not tobacco in that pipe. I say "glue" because, like Louise Farrenc and her brother Augustine Dumont, Vernet was born in the galleries of the Louvre.

The Louvre housed artists during the French Revolution. Vernet was a third generation painter. His father was Carl Vernet; his grandfather Claude Joseph Vernet. I'm planning a scene in the Louvre with Louise and Augustine, now I believe Vernet must be part of that. He was older than the Dumont children, born in 1789. Augustine and Louise were born in 1801 and 1804 respectively. Vernet held David and neoclassicism in contempt. He had a particular hostility toward David who had done nothing to prevent Vernet's aunt from the guillotine when he could have. He and Géricault were both rivals and friends.

Vernet became famous for his contemporary battle pictures, which include a number that I've been using to study the revolutions of 1830 and 1848.

Vernet and Géricault were about the same age. When Géricault began studying with Vernet's father Carl—young Vernet was 19. The scene in the Louvre that I've been planning is of Géricault copying one of the masters. (Louise and Augustine finding him there while out playing.) Now I'm thinking that Vernet's there too; that he's the one who took Géricault there and showed him around.

So all of this is really about a decision to be made. I've got four artists to consider: Delacroix of course, who modeled for Géricault's Raft of the Medusa and was deeply influenced by him; Ary Scheffer who painted Gérucault on his death bed and lived in the neighborhood and held famous salons some years later that were attended by Chopin, Liszt and Georges Sand; James Pradier, the sculptor I was writing about in my last entry; and Vernet. Each one of those men has a role to play in the opening scene where Géricault is being brought home on a stretcher from his third and final fall off a horse—the final injury that, in essence, killed him.

And I'm still searching for images and information about what the Louvre was like during the Revolution when the families of artists were living there. This is a picture from 1824, the year Géricault died. This is one of the Academy's Salons—the most important art event of each year. The Raft of the Medusa was shown in the 1819 salon. The artists were forced out of the Louvre by Napoleon who turned the Louvre into an official museum for the first time. It was, however, a museum, really, from the time of Louis XIV.

I just have this image in mind about what it must have felt like to be a child in the Louvre, running, maybe even barefoot along the marble floors, free of any real authority, other than the adults living there. What an amazing childhood experience. It's quite caught my imagination. My intention is to let Louise remember it and to draw the reader into that memory.

And yes, I've been writing chapter one —that's how this whole thing about Vernet came to my attention. I originally sent him after the physician so he wasn't in the scene. Now I'm thinking maybe someone else should go, or he should return in time to be part of things. That's the task for today: to rework that section. This has been prep, so to speak. The picture is Géricault's courtyard today.