122 



THE HORSE. 



could not supply the deficiency. For a long while yet 

 much effort must be given to snatch such fugitive 

 detail, being still unguided by knowledge of what must 

 occur. 



The author of the biography deceives himself when 

 he affirms the possibility of divination in the drawings of 

 Gericault of the preceding and succeeding movements. 

 I desire no better proof than the lithograph entitled The 

 Horse Dealer, leading five vigorous draught horses ; the 

 intention of the artist is to make them move slowly on 

 rough ground. The position of the members do not 

 answer to the present action, to that which is passed nor 

 to that which will follow. The dotted rectification of the 

 most prominent animal (fig. 45) re-establishes the lateral 

 appui which is the only one suited to the position of its 

 posterior. 



In another lithograph, 

 entitled The Team of an 

 English Collier, five big 

 horses, of the same nature 

 as those of the preceding 

 plate, descend an inclined 

 plane. They are all at 

 the true diagonal appm, 

 although the space be- 

 tween the feet adhering to 

 the ground is too great, 

 which renders difficult the 

 indicating the length of the step 

 which will follow, even whilst admitting that in the 

 descent, the step is rather longer than in the ascent as 

 has been already explained. 



I will, however, make the restriction that each animal 

 taken alone is more indicative of the hesitation of a 

 backing-motion than that of a forward progression. 



An unpublished drawing in China ink, by Gericault, 

 in one of the rooms of the exhibition of I'Ecole des beaux- 

 arts, represents a man riding a horse which is rearing 

 (fig. 46). I would point out that if the rider ought to 

 unite himself to the movements of the animal, it is 

 permissible for him to thwart the opposition of the horse 

 which rears to rid itself of the weight which incommodes it. 



obligation of exactly 



