When he was in London in 1821, Géricault was impressed by the 'portraits ... genres, and animals' he saw in the Royal Academy exhibition. These scenes of everyday, modern life challenged the traditional hierarchy of subject matter. The British and French academies had taught that historical subjects were the most admirable form of art. Now, painters were producing modern subjects which appealed directly to private collectors.

Theodore Géricault Monomania: Portrait of an Excessively Jealous Woman  about 1819-22 Musée des Beaux-Arts de Lyon

Even as his Raft of the Medusa hung in the Egyptian Hall, Géricault renounced history painting, and began instead to paint animals, especially horses and horse-racing, and scenes of working life. Like Delacroix, Géricault admired the emotive power that British artists like James Ward or Edwin Landseer gave to animals. They also valued the subtle human characterisation and expression in the paintings of David Wilkie, the most innovative genre painter of his generation.

It was widely acknowledged that the influence of British painters encouraged the proliferation of 'lesser' genres in French exhibitions in the 1820s. Distinctly contemporary in style and subject, they were encouraged by the Comte de Forbin, director of the Royal museums - at some risk to his reputation.