A Paraleytic Woman

Théodore Géricault's haunting lithograph comes from his rare suite of prints, 'série anglaise'.

The artist visited London in 1820 and almost immediately began drawing the city’s poor. This work developed into the 'série anglaise', commissioned by publishers Rodwell & Martin. However, nothing like Géricault’s unsparing depictions of human distress had appeared in English art before and they were not a commercial success.

Sketches for this print include drawings of a hearse. The coach passing behind the paralysed woman is not obviously a funeral car but it may be that the artist intended the image to suggest the stages of life, from childhood to the grave.