Detail of Alfred Dedreux as a Child by Gericault in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, May 2011

Alfred Dedreux (1810–1860) as a Child

Artist: Théodore Gericault (French, Rouen 1791–1824 Paris)

Date: ca. 1819–20

Medium: Oil on canvas

Dimensions: 18 x 15 in. (45.7 x 38.1 cm)

Classification: Paintings

Credit Line: The Alfred N. Punnett Endowment Fund, 1941

Accession Number: 41.17

Gallery Label:

The subject of this portrait is the nephew of Gericault’s friend the painter Pierre-Joseph Dedreux-Dorcy. This canvas is one of a small group of drawings and paintings (in various collections) that depict the eight- or nine-year-old Alfred and his younger sister, Elisabeth, with remarkable self-possession and grace for their age. Alfred became a painter and, like Gericault, was enamored of horses. Eugène Delacroix, who had studied with Gericault, later owned this painting.

Text from: www.metmuseum.org/collection/the-collection-online/search/436454