Horse Race at Epsom

Théodore Géricault painted Horse Race at Epsom in 1821 while living in England, where he had gone after the scandal of his monumental Raft of the Medusa. The painting shows four jockeys urging their mounts across the course at full stretch beneath a heavy sky. The galloping poses are anatomically impossible, yet the work conveys the thrill of speed with irresistible energy, and it remains one of the most vivid sporting paintings of the Romantic era.