During the short life of the French artist Théodorge Géricault (Rouen 1791 – 1824 Paris), the horse was a returning subject in his paintings and prints. The interest in drawing horses was already expressed at an early age and in his youth he spent a lot of time in le Cirque Olympique, a circus theater in Paris. Later Géricault found his first artistic teacher in Carle Vernet. Horses also played an important role in Vernet's oeuvre, mainly from the English sporting art tradition. Géricault's oeuvre includes about 100 lithographs. However, many of his paintings remain unfinished. In 1816 he traveled to Italy, where he came into contact with the socalled race of the Barberi horses. Although several drawings and studies of this subject have been preserved, the eventual painting was never made. Besides the daily life of the lower-class, horses played a central role in his artworks produced in the time Géricault was staying in England, from 1820 to 1821. After his return to France, Géricault's name as a lithographer was widely established. In particular, the Gihaut brothers' firm published many of its prints, including the 1822 Ètudes de chevaux series that consisted of 11 studies of horses, of which this lithograph is the cover page. Horses have always played a major role for Géricault; both in his oeuvre and in his personal life. The artist died at the age of 33, partly as a result of two horse riding accidents.