Study of a Junior Cavalry Officer Seated

Bazin notes that the present drawing must date between 1814 and 1820 because the young, smooth-shaven calvary officer wears a short jacket, the front panel of which after 1820 would become detachable. He wears a white cockade on his tall shako hat, a detail of his costume associated with the Restoration. The man belongs to the chasseurs à cheval, a light cavalry regiment that had guarded Napoleon. Regiment leaders wore one epaulet on the left shoulder, which makes it hard to identify the officer's rank.
During this early period of his career, Géricault made drawings and paintings of hussars, or light cavalrymen, in their uniforms. The pose of this soldier echoes that of his painting of a hussar trumpet player in the Galerie Belvedere, Vienna (2528; Bazin 1560); in both works, it is unclear where the soldier is seated.