The raft of Medusa

the history

introduction

the raft of medusa

"The raft of the Medusa" represents the moment when, after thirteen days adrift, the fifteen survivors see a ship, the Argus, coming from the horizon. The observer's attention is first captured from the centre of the canvas, and then follows the flow of the survivors' bodies.

Théodore Géricault,was a dandy and an avid horseman whose dramatic paintings reflect his flamboyant (bizare) and passionate personality. He developed a remarkable facility for capturing animal movement and also mastered classicist figure construction and composition. While in Florence and Rome (1816–17), he became fascinated with Michelangelo and Baroque art.

Géricault’s masterpiece is the large painting entitled The Raft of the Medusa. The shipwreck had scandalous political implications at home and so Géricault’s picture of the raft and its inhabitants was greeted with hostility by the government. Disappointed by the reception of The Raft of the Medusa, Géricault took the painting to England in 1820, where it was received as a sensational success. Repeated riding accidents and chronic tubercular infections ruined his health, and he died after a long period of suffering.

the painting represents a moment of the events following the shipwreck of the French frigate Méduse, which took place on 2 July 1816 off the coast of present-day Mauritania, due to negligence and hasty decisions by Commander Hugues Duroy de Chaumareys. The crew, had to be boarded on a makeshift raft. They had endured starvation, dehydration, fighting among themselves, and even resorting to cannibalism.

Overall, the painting is dominated by a dark shade, entrusted to the use of pigments tending to brown, which according to the author were effective in suggesting the feeling of pain and tragedy.

Géricault carefully chose the subject of his first major work, a tragedy that was having international resonance, to increase the interest of as large an audience as possible and to launch his career. Scrupulous and precise to detail, the artist had an intense period of study on the human body and light, producing many preparatory drawings, interviewing two of the survivors and building a model of the shipwreck.