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Vernet's oil study Mazeppa of 1826, done in advance of the large painting in the Musée Calvet in Avignon, was based on a theme from Lord Byron's verse epic of the same name, which was translated into French soon after its publication in 1819. The story relates how Mazeppa, a Cossack chief, made illicit advances to the daughter of a Polish prince. As punishment, he was tied naked to the back of a wild horse, which galloped off with him. Exhausted to the point of death, he was finally saved by a Cossack girl.
Mazeppa not only represents a man whose animal instincts caused him to be subjected to an animal fate; he also embodies the outcast and pariah who is condemned by society. In this regard, Mazeppa could figure as a romantic symbol of artistic self-reliance and determination.
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