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FRENCH, 1791-1824
THE BRIDE OF ABIDOS

measurements
6 1/4 by 7 3/8 in.

alternate measurements
15.8 by 18.7 cm

oil on paper laid down on canvas

We are grateful to Lorenz Eitner who has kindly confirmed the authenticity of this work.

PROVENANCE

General Bro de Comères (received as a gift from The Duc de Nemours, confirmed by the following inscription on an old label on the stretcher, which reads Le Gidour (sic) par Géricault, donné au duc de Nemours par le général Bro. Scène de pirates. Château d'Eu 1850)
André Joubin, Paris
Private Collection, Bordeaux

EXHIBITED

Paris, Bernheim-Jeune et Cie., Géricault, Peintre et Dessinateur, May 1937 (lent by Joubin)

LITERATURE

Phillipe Grunchec, Tout l'oeuvre peint de Géricault, Paris, 1978, no. 252
Phillipe Grunchec, Géricault, exhibition catalogue, 1979, no. 160, illustrated fig. 1A
Lorenz Eitner, Géricault: His Life and Work, 1983, no. 108, pp. 260 - 261, 358

NOTE

Painted circa 1822-1823.

This present painting illustrates the final moments of Byron's tragic Bride of Abidos. Zuleika is the heroine and headstrong daughter of the elderly Pasha Giaffir, who wishes her to marry an aging Bey. Desperate to escape this fate, Zuleika flees with Selim, the man she loves, to a cave by the sea. Géricault leaves the cave mysterious and shrouded in darkness, aside from the menacing swords and pistols Selim has secreted there, here shown at upper right. In the cave, the hero tells his bride his awful secret: that he is the leader of a band of pirates, who are within hailing distance offshore. As Giaffir's armed men approach in pursuit of the young lovers, Selim fires his pistol to summon his swarthy comrades. Tragically, he is shot dead by Giaffir before the star-crossed lovers can be saved, and Zuleika dies of grief.

Géricault painted four versions of this dramatic subject. The reference to "Le Gidour" on the old label, seems to confuse the subject of the present oil work with that of Le Giaour, another Byronic theme treated by the artist. A lithograph (with this image in reverse) was made by Eugène Lami, and is dated 1823.