47 THEODORE GERICAULT French, 1791-1824 Three Lovers, circa 1817—20 Oil on canvas 22.5 x 29.8 cm (8 x 11¾ in.) 95.PA.72 In this remarkable sketch Gericault has depicted his subject with unabashedly modern directness, capturing the energy of human behavior and its awkward intensity in a way completely different from the idealizing conventions of his age. The woman straddling her lover wears everyday clothes, and her hair is arranged in the latest style. Her single dangling stocking is also a contemporary detail, although its presence here has less to do with fashion than with urgency. Her provocatively exposed, pivoting leg, which barely brushes the edge of the platform, draws attention to the unsustainable torsion of her pose. The couple seems to be supported only by the coiled energy of their interlocked embrace and by their passionate eye contact. At the left, the pair's languid female companion calmly observes their elusive moment of engagement. Her nudity and relaxed pose evoke the way the classical tradition represented repose after lovemaking; her torso artfully complements the statue of Venus above. The sculpture, the drawn curtain, the bold lighting, and the spatial partitions provide a theatrical setting for this naturalistic presentation of passion. The Three Lovers is an independent, finished sketch, small in scale and intended for close private viewing. The sketch technique unites the emotional immediacy of the subject with the dramatic spontaneity of the artist's touch. Gericault delights in the tight draftsmanship of his brushwork, describing an attenuated finger or strand of hair as deftly as the dragged folds of cloth. Although the artist often drew such subjects, this is his only known erotic painting. DJ FRENCH SCHOOL 85