The Raft of the Medusa: Difference between revisions - Wikipedia

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'''''The Raft of the Medusa''''' ({{lang-fr|Le Radeau de la Méduse}} {{IPA-fr|lə ʁado d(ə) la medyz|}}) – originally titled '''''Scène de Naufrage''''' (''Shipwreck Scene'') – is an [[oil painting]] of 1818–19 by the French [[Romantic movement|Romantic]] painter and [[lithography|lithographer]] [[Théodore Géricault]] (1791–1824).<ref>{{cite book | last = Barnes | first = Julian | date = 2011 | title = A History of the World in 10 1/2 Chapters | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=FRoKuXZKEAUC&q=%22The+raft+of+the+medusa%22+%22Sc%C3%A8ne+de+Naufrage%22&pg=PT133 | location = New York | publisher = Vintage International Books | isbn = 9780307797865}}</ref> Completed when the artist was 27, the work has become an icon of French Romanticism. At {{convert|491|by|716|cm|ftin|abbr=on}},<ref>Berger, Klaus. ''Géricault and His Work''. Lawrence: University of Kansas Press, 1955. 78.</ref> it is an over-life-size painting that depicts a moment from the aftermath of the wreck of the French naval [[French frigate Méduse (1810)|frigate ''Méduse'']], which ran aground off the coast of today's [[Mauritania]] on 2 July 1816. On 5 July 1816, at least 147 people were set adrift on a hurriedly constructed raft; all but 15 died in the 13&nbsp;days before their rescue, and those who survived endured starvation and dehydration and practiced [[cannibalism]] (the [[custom of the sea]]). The event became an international scandal, in part because its cause was widely attributed to the incompetence of the French captain.

Géricault chose this large-scale uncommissioned work to launch his career, using a subject that had already generated widespread public interest.<ref name="Louvre">"[https://archive.today/2012.12.09-133033/http://www.louvre.fr/llv/activite/detail_parcours.jsp?CURRENT_LLV_PARCOURS%3C%3Ecnt_id=10134198673226914&CONTENT%3C%3Ecnt_id=10134198673327664&CURRENT_LLV_CHEMINEMENT%3C%3Ecnt_id=10134198673327664&bmLocale=en The Raft of the Medusa]". [[Louvre]]. Retrieved on 19 November 2008.</ref> The event fascinated him, and before he began work on the final painting, he undertook extensive research and produced many preparatory sketches. He interviewed two of the survivors and constructed a detailed scale model of the raft. He visited hospitals and morgues where he could view, first-hand, the colour and texture of the flesh of the dying and dead. As he had anticipated, the painting proved highly controversial at its first appearance in the 1819 [[Salon (Paris)|Paris Salon]], attracting passionate praise and condemnation in equal measure. However, it established his international reputation and today is widely seen as seminal in the early history of the [[Romanticism|Romantic movement]] in French painting.

Although ''The Raft of the Medusa'' retains elements of the traditions of [[history painting]], in both its choice of subject matter and its dramatic presentation, it represents a break from the calm and order of the prevailing [[Neoclassicism|Neoclassical]] school. Géricault's work attracted wide attention from its first showing and was then exhibited in London. The [[Louvre]] acquired it soon after the artist's death at the age of 32. The painting's influence can be seen in the works of [[Eugène Delacroix]], [[J. M. W. Turner]], [[Gustave Courbet]], and [[Édouard Manet]].<ref>Fried, 92</ref>