Deux chevaux de poste à la porte d'une écurie

Géricault loved horses more than almost any painter, and in 1820 and 1821 he was in England. The horses that caught his eye there were the heavy working animals of London and the coaching roads, dray horses and post horses that hauled and carried for a living, a world away from the rearing cavalry mounts of his big battle scenes. He drew and painted them again and again, patient beasts standing at stable doors like these two. He was in his late twenties and near the height of his powers. A few years later a series of falls from horses would help kill him, at just 32. Here the pair are simply at rest, waiting to be harnessed again.