The Raft of the Medusa

Prompt: Focus on The Raft of the Medusa and explain the Background.

In June 1816, the French frigate Méduse, captained by Hugues Duroy de Chaumareys, departed from Rochefort, bound for the Senegalese port of Saint-Louis. She headed a convoy of three other ships: the storeship Loire, the brig Argus and the corvette Écho. Viscount Hugues Duroy de Chaumereys, a recently returned royalist émigré, had been appointed captain of the frigate by the newly restored Bourbon administration despite having scarcely sailed in 20 years. After the wreck, public outrage mistakenly attributed responsibility for his appointment to Louis XVIII, though this was a routine naval appointment made within the Ministry of the Navy and far outside the concerns of the monarch. The frigate's mission was to accept the British return of Senegal under the terms of France's acceptance of the Peace of Paris. The appointed French governor of Senegal, Colonel Julien-Désiré Schmaltz, and his wife and daughter were among the passengers.In an effort to make good time, the Méduse overtook the other ships, but due to poor navigation it drifted 160 kilometres (100 mi) off course. On 2 July, it ran aground on a sandbank off the West African coast, near today's Mauritania. The collision was widely blamed on the incompetence of De Chaumereys, a returned émigré who lacked experience and ability, but had been granted his commission as a result of an act of political preferment. Efforts to free the ship failed, so, on 5 July, the frightened passengers and crew started an attempt to travel the 100 km (60 mi) to the African coast in the frigate's six boats. Although the Méduse was carrying 400 people, including 160 crew, there was space for only about 250 in the boats. The remainder of the ship's complement and half of a contingent of marine infantrymen intended to garrison Senegal—at least 146 men and one woman—were piled onto a hastily built raft, that partially submerged once it was loaded. Seventeen crew members opted to stay aboard the grounded Méduse. The captain and crew aboard the other boats intended to tow the raft, but after only a few miles the raft was turned loose. For sustenance the crew of the raft had only a bag of ship's biscuit (consumed on the first day), two casks of water (lost overboard during fighting) and six casks of wine.According to critic Jonathan Miles, the raft carried the survivors "to the frontiers of human experience. Crazed, parched and starved, they slaughtered mutineers, ate their dead companions and killed the weakest." After 13 days, on 17 July 1816, the raft was rescued by the Argus by chance—no particular search effort was made by the French for the raft. By this time only 15 men were still alive; the others had been killed or thrown overboard by their comrades, died of starvation, or had thrown themselves into the sea in despair. The incident became a huge public embarrassment for the French monarchy, only recently restored to power after Napoleon's defeat in 1815.

File:The Medusa shown at the Louvre, in color.jpg

Detail of the crew member waving his handkerchief to draw the ship's attention

Géricault's ''Study for "The Raft of the Medusa"'', pen and brown ink, 17.6 cm × 24.5 cm, [[Palais des Beaux-Arts de Lille

1818-19}}, Getty Center. Joseph served as model for at least two Black individuals in the final version of the artist's representation of Medusa's raft.

Sailors of the ''Méduse'' detained by the British after the sinking. They were returned to France afterwards.{{sfn

File:Portrait Study by Théodore Géricault, c. 1818-19, Getty Center.JPG

File:Pierre-Paul Prud'hon - Justice and Divine Vengeance Pursuing Crime.JPG

File:Raft-of-the-Medusa-copy par Pierre-Désiré Guillemet et Étienne Antoine Eugène Ronjat.jpg

Louis Nicolas Philippe Auguste de Forbin

The main 16 colours used for the painting<ref name=christiansen/>

Bonaparte Visiting the Plague-Victims of Jaffa

Nicolas Sebastien Maillot's ''Raft of the Medusa shown in Salon Carré of the Louvre'', 1831, [[Louvre

Plan of the ''Medusa'''s raft at the moment of its crew's rescue<ref>Grigsby, Darcy Grimaldo. ''Extremities: Painting Empire in Post-Revolutionary France''. [[Yale University Press

Diagram showing the outline of the two pyramidal structures that form the basis of the work. The position of the Argus rescue vessel is indicated by the yellow dot.

In 1820, Géricault successfully exhibited the painting in the [[Egyptian Hall

École nationale supérieure d'arts et métiers

alt=darkly shaded painting of two winged angels chasing man who runs away from a fallen, naked body

File:Théodore Géricault - Le Radeau de la Méduse esquisse (salon de 1819).jpg

The Defeat of the Floating Batteries at Gibraltar, September 1782

Copy of the work by [[Pierre-Désiré Guillemet

File:Raft of Méduse-Alexandre Corréard-IMG 4788-cropped.JPG

''Portrait Study of Joseph'', oil on canvas painting by Théodore Géricault, {{Circa

Bonaparte Visiting the Plague Victims of Jaffa

Category:Paintings in the Louvre by French artists

File:Egyptian Hall, Piccadilly 1815 edited.jpg

Detail from the lower left corner of the canvas showing two dying figures

''Cannibalism on the Raft of the Medusa'', crayon, ink wash, and gouache on paper, 28 cm × 38 cm, [[Louvre

Category:Paintings by Théodore Géricault

File:Théodore Géricault "The raft of the Medusa".jpg

:File:Ugolino and his Sons Starving to Death in the Tower 1806 1a.jpg


The Raft of the Medusa

Prompt: Explain the Background of this artwork, The Raft of the Medusa.

In June 1816, the French frigate Méduse, captained by Hugues Duroy de Chaumareys, departed from Rochefort, bound for the Senegalese port of Saint-Louis. She headed a convoy of three other ships: the storeship Loire, the brig Argus and the corvette Écho. Viscount Hugues Duroy de Chaumereys, a recently returned royalist émigré, had been appointed captain of the frigate by the newly restored Bourbon administration despite having scarcely sailed in 20 years. After the wreck, public outrage mistakenly attributed responsibility for his appointment to Louis XVIII, though this was a routine naval appointment made within the Ministry of the Navy and far outside the concerns of the monarch. The frigate's mission was to accept the British return of Senegal under the terms of France's acceptance of the Peace of Paris. The appointed French governor of Senegal, Colonel Julien-Désiré Schmaltz, and his wife and daughter were among the passengers.In an effort to make good time, the Méduse overtook the other ships, but due to poor navigation it drifted 160 kilometres (100 mi) off course. On 2 July, it ran aground on a sandbank off the West African coast, near today's Mauritania. The collision was widely blamed on the incompetence of De Chaumereys, a returned émigré who lacked experience and ability, but had been granted his commission as a result of an act of political preferment. Efforts to free the ship failed, so, on 5 July, the frightened passengers and crew started an attempt to travel the 100 km (60 mi) to the African coast in the frigate's six boats. Although the Méduse was carrying 400 people, including 160 crew, there was space for only about 250 in the boats. The remainder of the ship's complement and half of a contingent of marine infantrymen intended to garrison Senegal—at least 146 men and one woman—were piled onto a hastily built raft, that partially submerged once it was loaded. Seventeen crew members opted to stay aboard the grounded Méduse. The captain and crew aboard the other boats intended to tow the raft, but after only a few miles the raft was turned loose. For sustenance the crew of the raft had only a bag of ship's biscuit (consumed on the first day), two casks of water (lost overboard during fighting) and six casks of wine.According to critic Jonathan Miles, the raft carried the survivors "to the frontiers of human experience. Crazed, parched and starved, they slaughtered mutineers, ate their dead companions and killed the weakest." After 13 days, on 17 July 1816, the raft was rescued by the Argus by chance—no particular search effort was made by the French for the raft. By this time only 15 men were still alive; the others had been killed or thrown overboard by their comrades, died of starvation, or had thrown themselves into the sea in despair. The incident became a huge public embarrassment for the French monarchy, only recently restored to power after Napoleon's defeat in 1815.

File:The Medusa shown at the Louvre, in color.jpg

Detail of the crew member waving his handkerchief to draw the ship's attention

Géricault's ''Study for "The Raft of the Medusa"'', pen and brown ink, 17.6 cm × 24.5 cm, [[Palais des Beaux-Arts de Lille

1818-19}}, Getty Center. Joseph served as model for at least two Black individuals in the final version of the artist's representation of Medusa's raft.

Sailors of the ''Méduse'' detained by the British after the sinking. They were returned to France afterwards.{{sfn

File:Portrait Study by Théodore Géricault, c. 1818-19, Getty Center.JPG

File:Pierre-Paul Prud'hon - Justice and Divine Vengeance Pursuing Crime.JPG

File:Raft-of-the-Medusa-copy par Pierre-Désiré Guillemet et Étienne Antoine Eugène Ronjat.jpg

Louis Nicolas Philippe Auguste de Forbin

The main 16 colours used for the painting<ref name=christiansen/>

Bonaparte Visiting the Plague-Victims of Jaffa

Nicolas Sebastien Maillot's ''Raft of the Medusa shown in Salon Carré of the Louvre'', 1831, [[Louvre

Plan of the ''Medusa'''s raft at the moment of its crew's rescue<ref>Grigsby, Darcy Grimaldo. ''Extremities: Painting Empire in Post-Revolutionary France''. [[Yale University Press

Diagram showing the outline of the two pyramidal structures that form the basis of the work. The position of the Argus rescue vessel is indicated by the yellow dot.

In 1820, Géricault successfully exhibited the painting in the [[Egyptian Hall

École nationale supérieure d'arts et métiers

alt=darkly shaded painting of two winged angels chasing man who runs away from a fallen, naked body

File:Théodore Géricault - Le Radeau de la Méduse esquisse (salon de 1819).jpg

The Defeat of the Floating Batteries at Gibraltar, September 1782

Copy of the work by [[Pierre-Désiré Guillemet

File:Raft of Méduse-Alexandre Corréard-IMG 4788-cropped.JPG

''Portrait Study of Joseph'', oil on canvas painting by Théodore Géricault, {{Circa

Bonaparte Visiting the Plague Victims of Jaffa

Category:Paintings in the Louvre by French artists

File:Egyptian Hall, Piccadilly 1815 edited.jpg

Detail from the lower left corner of the canvas showing two dying figures

''Cannibalism on the Raft of the Medusa'', crayon, ink wash, and gouache on paper, 28 cm × 38 cm, [[Louvre

Category:Paintings by Théodore Géricault

File:Théodore Géricault "The raft of the Medusa".jpg

:File:Ugolino and his Sons Starving to Death in the Tower 1806 1a.jpg


The Raft of the Medusa

Prompt: How does The Raft of the Medusa explain its Background?

In June 1816, the French frigate Méduse, captained by Hugues Duroy de Chaumareys, departed from Rochefort, bound for the Senegalese port of Saint-Louis. She headed a convoy of three other ships: the storeship Loire, the brig Argus and the corvette Écho. Viscount Hugues Duroy de Chaumereys, a recently returned royalist émigré, had been appointed captain of the frigate by the newly restored Bourbon administration despite having scarcely sailed in 20 years. After the wreck, public outrage mistakenly attributed responsibility for his appointment to Louis XVIII, though this was a routine naval appointment made within the Ministry of the Navy and far outside the concerns of the monarch. The frigate's mission was to accept the British return of Senegal under the terms of France's acceptance of the Peace of Paris. The appointed French governor of Senegal, Colonel Julien-Désiré Schmaltz, and his wife and daughter were among the passengers.In an effort to make good time, the Méduse overtook the other ships, but due to poor navigation it drifted 160 kilometres (100 mi) off course. On 2 July, it ran aground on a sandbank off the West African coast, near today's Mauritania. The collision was widely blamed on the incompetence of De Chaumereys, a returned émigré who lacked experience and ability, but had been granted his commission as a result of an act of political preferment. Efforts to free the ship failed, so, on 5 July, the frightened passengers and crew started an attempt to travel the 100 km (60 mi) to the African coast in the frigate's six boats. Although the Méduse was carrying 400 people, including 160 crew, there was space for only about 250 in the boats. The remainder of the ship's complement and half of a contingent of marine infantrymen intended to garrison Senegal—at least 146 men and one woman—were piled onto a hastily built raft, that partially submerged once it was loaded. Seventeen crew members opted to stay aboard the grounded Méduse. The captain and crew aboard the other boats intended to tow the raft, but after only a few miles the raft was turned loose. For sustenance the crew of the raft had only a bag of ship's biscuit (consumed on the first day), two casks of water (lost overboard during fighting) and six casks of wine.According to critic Jonathan Miles, the raft carried the survivors "to the frontiers of human experience. Crazed, parched and starved, they slaughtered mutineers, ate their dead companions and killed the weakest." After 13 days, on 17 July 1816, the raft was rescued by the Argus by chance—no particular search effort was made by the French for the raft. By this time only 15 men were still alive; the others had been killed or thrown overboard by their comrades, died of starvation, or had thrown themselves into the sea in despair. The incident became a huge public embarrassment for the French monarchy, only recently restored to power after Napoleon's defeat in 1815.

File:The Medusa shown at the Louvre, in color.jpg

Detail of the crew member waving his handkerchief to draw the ship's attention

Géricault's ''Study for "The Raft of the Medusa"'', pen and brown ink, 17.6 cm × 24.5 cm, [[Palais des Beaux-Arts de Lille

1818-19}}, Getty Center. Joseph served as model for at least two Black individuals in the final version of the artist's representation of Medusa's raft.

Sailors of the ''Méduse'' detained by the British after the sinking. They were returned to France afterwards.{{sfn

File:Portrait Study by Théodore Géricault, c. 1818-19, Getty Center.JPG

File:Pierre-Paul Prud'hon - Justice and Divine Vengeance Pursuing Crime.JPG

File:Raft-of-the-Medusa-copy par Pierre-Désiré Guillemet et Étienne Antoine Eugène Ronjat.jpg

Louis Nicolas Philippe Auguste de Forbin

The main 16 colours used for the painting<ref name=christiansen/>

Bonaparte Visiting the Plague-Victims of Jaffa

Nicolas Sebastien Maillot's ''Raft of the Medusa shown in Salon Carré of the Louvre'', 1831, [[Louvre

Plan of the ''Medusa'''s raft at the moment of its crew's rescue<ref>Grigsby, Darcy Grimaldo. ''Extremities: Painting Empire in Post-Revolutionary France''. [[Yale University Press

Diagram showing the outline of the two pyramidal structures that form the basis of the work. The position of the Argus rescue vessel is indicated by the yellow dot.

In 1820, Géricault successfully exhibited the painting in the [[Egyptian Hall

École nationale supérieure d'arts et métiers

alt=darkly shaded painting of two winged angels chasing man who runs away from a fallen, naked body

File:Théodore Géricault - Le Radeau de la Méduse esquisse (salon de 1819).jpg

The Defeat of the Floating Batteries at Gibraltar, September 1782

Copy of the work by [[Pierre-Désiré Guillemet

File:Raft of Méduse-Alexandre Corréard-IMG 4788-cropped.JPG

''Portrait Study of Joseph'', oil on canvas painting by Théodore Géricault, {{Circa

Bonaparte Visiting the Plague Victims of Jaffa

Category:Paintings in the Louvre by French artists

File:Egyptian Hall, Piccadilly 1815 edited.jpg

Detail from the lower left corner of the canvas showing two dying figures

''Cannibalism on the Raft of the Medusa'', crayon, ink wash, and gouache on paper, 28 cm × 38 cm, [[Louvre

Category:Paintings by Théodore Géricault

File:Théodore Géricault "The raft of the Medusa".jpg

:File:Ugolino and his Sons Starving to Death in the Tower 1806 1a.jpg


The Raft of the Medusa

Prompt: In The Raft of the Medusa, how is the Background discussed?

In June 1816, the French frigate Méduse, captained by Hugues Duroy de Chaumareys, departed from Rochefort, bound for the Senegalese port of Saint-Louis. She headed a convoy of three other ships: the storeship Loire, the brig Argus and the corvette Écho. Viscount Hugues Duroy de Chaumereys, a recently returned royalist émigré, had been appointed captain of the frigate by the newly restored Bourbon administration despite having scarcely sailed in 20 years. After the wreck, public outrage mistakenly attributed responsibility for his appointment to Louis XVIII, though this was a routine naval appointment made within the Ministry of the Navy and far outside the concerns of the monarch. The frigate's mission was to accept the British return of Senegal under the terms of France's acceptance of the Peace of Paris. The appointed French governor of Senegal, Colonel Julien-Désiré Schmaltz, and his wife and daughter were among the passengers.In an effort to make good time, the Méduse overtook the other ships, but due to poor navigation it drifted 160 kilometres (100 mi) off course. On 2 July, it ran aground on a sandbank off the West African coast, near today's Mauritania. The collision was widely blamed on the incompetence of De Chaumereys, a returned émigré who lacked experience and ability, but had been granted his commission as a result of an act of political preferment. Efforts to free the ship failed, so, on 5 July, the frightened passengers and crew started an attempt to travel the 100 km (60 mi) to the African coast in the frigate's six boats. Although the Méduse was carrying 400 people, including 160 crew, there was space for only about 250 in the boats. The remainder of the ship's complement and half of a contingent of marine infantrymen intended to garrison Senegal—at least 146 men and one woman—were piled onto a hastily built raft, that partially submerged once it was loaded. Seventeen crew members opted to stay aboard the grounded Méduse. The captain and crew aboard the other boats intended to tow the raft, but after only a few miles the raft was turned loose. For sustenance the crew of the raft had only a bag of ship's biscuit (consumed on the first day), two casks of water (lost overboard during fighting) and six casks of wine.According to critic Jonathan Miles, the raft carried the survivors "to the frontiers of human experience. Crazed, parched and starved, they slaughtered mutineers, ate their dead companions and killed the weakest." After 13 days, on 17 July 1816, the raft was rescued by the Argus by chance—no particular search effort was made by the French for the raft. By this time only 15 men were still alive; the others had been killed or thrown overboard by their comrades, died of starvation, or had thrown themselves into the sea in despair. The incident became a huge public embarrassment for the French monarchy, only recently restored to power after Napoleon's defeat in 1815.

File:The Medusa shown at the Louvre, in color.jpg

Detail of the crew member waving his handkerchief to draw the ship's attention

Géricault's ''Study for "The Raft of the Medusa"'', pen and brown ink, 17.6 cm × 24.5 cm, [[Palais des Beaux-Arts de Lille

1818-19}}, Getty Center. Joseph served as model for at least two Black individuals in the final version of the artist's representation of Medusa's raft.

Sailors of the ''Méduse'' detained by the British after the sinking. They were returned to France afterwards.{{sfn

File:Portrait Study by Théodore Géricault, c. 1818-19, Getty Center.JPG

File:Pierre-Paul Prud'hon - Justice and Divine Vengeance Pursuing Crime.JPG

File:Raft-of-the-Medusa-copy par Pierre-Désiré Guillemet et Étienne Antoine Eugène Ronjat.jpg

Louis Nicolas Philippe Auguste de Forbin

The main 16 colours used for the painting<ref name=christiansen/>

Bonaparte Visiting the Plague-Victims of Jaffa

Nicolas Sebastien Maillot's ''Raft of the Medusa shown in Salon Carré of the Louvre'', 1831, [[Louvre

Plan of the ''Medusa'''s raft at the moment of its crew's rescue<ref>Grigsby, Darcy Grimaldo. ''Extremities: Painting Empire in Post-Revolutionary France''. [[Yale University Press

Diagram showing the outline of the two pyramidal structures that form the basis of the work. The position of the Argus rescue vessel is indicated by the yellow dot.

In 1820, Géricault successfully exhibited the painting in the [[Egyptian Hall

École nationale supérieure d'arts et métiers

alt=darkly shaded painting of two winged angels chasing man who runs away from a fallen, naked body

File:Théodore Géricault - Le Radeau de la Méduse esquisse (salon de 1819).jpg

The Defeat of the Floating Batteries at Gibraltar, September 1782

Copy of the work by [[Pierre-Désiré Guillemet

File:Raft of Méduse-Alexandre Corréard-IMG 4788-cropped.JPG

''Portrait Study of Joseph'', oil on canvas painting by Théodore Géricault, {{Circa

Bonaparte Visiting the Plague Victims of Jaffa

Category:Paintings in the Louvre by French artists

File:Egyptian Hall, Piccadilly 1815 edited.jpg

Detail from the lower left corner of the canvas showing two dying figures

''Cannibalism on the Raft of the Medusa'', crayon, ink wash, and gouache on paper, 28 cm × 38 cm, [[Louvre

Category:Paintings by Théodore Géricault

File:Théodore Géricault "The raft of the Medusa".jpg

:File:Ugolino and his Sons Starving to Death in the Tower 1806 1a.jpg


The Raft of the Medusa

Prompt: Focus on The Raft of the Medusa and explain the Description.

The Raft of the Medusa portrays the moment when, after 13 days adrift on the raft, the remaining 15 survivors view a ship approaching from a distance. According to an early British reviewer, the work is set at a moment when "the ruin of the raft may be said to be complete". The painting is on a monumental scale of 491 cm × 716 cm (193 in × 282 in), so that most of the figures rendered are life-sized and those in the foreground almost twice life-size, pushed close to the picture plane and crowding onto the viewer, who is drawn into the physical action as a participant.The makeshift raft is shown as barely seaworthy as it rides the deep waves, while the men are rendered as broken and in utter despair. One old man holds the corpse of his son at his knees; another tears his hair out in frustration and defeat. A number of bodies litter the foreground, waiting to be swept away by the surrounding waves. The men in the middle have just viewed a rescue ship; one points it out to another, and an African crew member, Jean Charles, stands on an empty barrel and frantically waves his handkerchief to draw the ship's attention.The pictorial composition of the painting is constructed upon two pyramidal structures. The perimeter of the large mast on the left of the canvas forms the first. The horizontal grouping of dead and dying figures in the foreground forms the base from which the survivors emerge, surging upward towards the emotional peak, where the central figure waves desperately at a rescue ship.The viewer's attention is first drawn to the centre of the canvas, then follows the directional flow of the survivors' bodies, viewed from behind and straining to the right. According to the art historian Justin Wintle, "a single horizontal diagonal rhythm [leads] us from the dead at the bottom left, to the living at the apex." Two other diagonal lines are used to heighten the dramatic tension. One follows the mast and its rigging and leads the viewer's eye towards an approaching wave that threatens to engulf the raft, while the second, composed of reaching figures, leads to the distant silhouette of the Argus, the ship that eventually rescued the survivors.Géricault's palette is composed of pallid flesh tones, and the murky colours of the survivors' clothes, the sea and the clouds. Overall the painting is dark and relies largely on the use of sombre, mostly brown pigments, a palette that Géricault believed was effective in suggesting tragedy and pain. The work's lighting has been described as "Caravaggesque", after the Italian artist closely associated with tenebrism—the use of violent contrast between light and dark. Even Géricault's treatment of the sea is muted, being rendered in dark greens rather than the deep blues that could have afforded contrast with the tones of the raft and its figures. From the distant area of the rescue ship, a bright light shines, providing illumination to an otherwise dull brown scene.

File:The Medusa shown at the Louvre, in color.jpg

Detail of the crew member waving his handkerchief to draw the ship's attention

Géricault's ''Study for "The Raft of the Medusa"'', pen and brown ink, 17.6 cm × 24.5 cm, [[Palais des Beaux-Arts de Lille

1818-19}}, Getty Center. Joseph served as model for at least two Black individuals in the final version of the artist's representation of Medusa's raft.

Sailors of the ''Méduse'' detained by the British after the sinking. They were returned to France afterwards.{{sfn

File:Portrait Study by Théodore Géricault, c. 1818-19, Getty Center.JPG

File:Pierre-Paul Prud'hon - Justice and Divine Vengeance Pursuing Crime.JPG

File:Raft-of-the-Medusa-copy par Pierre-Désiré Guillemet et Étienne Antoine Eugène Ronjat.jpg

Louis Nicolas Philippe Auguste de Forbin

The main 16 colours used for the painting<ref name=christiansen/>

Bonaparte Visiting the Plague-Victims of Jaffa

Nicolas Sebastien Maillot's ''Raft of the Medusa shown in Salon Carré of the Louvre'', 1831, [[Louvre

Plan of the ''Medusa'''s raft at the moment of its crew's rescue<ref>Grigsby, Darcy Grimaldo. ''Extremities: Painting Empire in Post-Revolutionary France''. [[Yale University Press

Diagram showing the outline of the two pyramidal structures that form the basis of the work. The position of the Argus rescue vessel is indicated by the yellow dot.

In 1820, Géricault successfully exhibited the painting in the [[Egyptian Hall

École nationale supérieure d'arts et métiers

alt=darkly shaded painting of two winged angels chasing man who runs away from a fallen, naked body

File:Théodore Géricault - Le Radeau de la Méduse esquisse (salon de 1819).jpg

The Defeat of the Floating Batteries at Gibraltar, September 1782

Copy of the work by [[Pierre-Désiré Guillemet

File:Raft of Méduse-Alexandre Corréard-IMG 4788-cropped.JPG

''Portrait Study of Joseph'', oil on canvas painting by Théodore Géricault, {{Circa

Bonaparte Visiting the Plague Victims of Jaffa

Category:Paintings in the Louvre by French artists

File:Egyptian Hall, Piccadilly 1815 edited.jpg

Detail from the lower left corner of the canvas showing two dying figures

''Cannibalism on the Raft of the Medusa'', crayon, ink wash, and gouache on paper, 28 cm × 38 cm, [[Louvre

Category:Paintings by Théodore Géricault

File:Théodore Géricault "The raft of the Medusa".jpg

:File:Ugolino and his Sons Starving to Death in the Tower 1806 1a.jpg


The Raft of the Medusa

Prompt: Explain the Description of this artwork, The Raft of the Medusa.

The Raft of the Medusa portrays the moment when, after 13 days adrift on the raft, the remaining 15 survivors view a ship approaching from a distance. According to an early British reviewer, the work is set at a moment when "the ruin of the raft may be said to be complete". The painting is on a monumental scale of 491 cm × 716 cm (193 in × 282 in), so that most of the figures rendered are life-sized and those in the foreground almost twice life-size, pushed close to the picture plane and crowding onto the viewer, who is drawn into the physical action as a participant.The makeshift raft is shown as barely seaworthy as it rides the deep waves, while the men are rendered as broken and in utter despair. One old man holds the corpse of his son at his knees; another tears his hair out in frustration and defeat. A number of bodies litter the foreground, waiting to be swept away by the surrounding waves. The men in the middle have just viewed a rescue ship; one points it out to another, and an African crew member, Jean Charles, stands on an empty barrel and frantically waves his handkerchief to draw the ship's attention.The pictorial composition of the painting is constructed upon two pyramidal structures. The perimeter of the large mast on the left of the canvas forms the first. The horizontal grouping of dead and dying figures in the foreground forms the base from which the survivors emerge, surging upward towards the emotional peak, where the central figure waves desperately at a rescue ship.The viewer's attention is first drawn to the centre of the canvas, then follows the directional flow of the survivors' bodies, viewed from behind and straining to the right. According to the art historian Justin Wintle, "a single horizontal diagonal rhythm [leads] us from the dead at the bottom left, to the living at the apex." Two other diagonal lines are used to heighten the dramatic tension. One follows the mast and its rigging and leads the viewer's eye towards an approaching wave that threatens to engulf the raft, while the second, composed of reaching figures, leads to the distant silhouette of the Argus, the ship that eventually rescued the survivors.Géricault's palette is composed of pallid flesh tones, and the murky colours of the survivors' clothes, the sea and the clouds. Overall the painting is dark and relies largely on the use of sombre, mostly brown pigments, a palette that Géricault believed was effective in suggesting tragedy and pain. The work's lighting has been described as "Caravaggesque", after the Italian artist closely associated with tenebrism—the use of violent contrast between light and dark. Even Géricault's treatment of the sea is muted, being rendered in dark greens rather than the deep blues that could have afforded contrast with the tones of the raft and its figures. From the distant area of the rescue ship, a bright light shines, providing illumination to an otherwise dull brown scene.

File:The Medusa shown at the Louvre, in color.jpg

Detail of the crew member waving his handkerchief to draw the ship's attention

Géricault's ''Study for "The Raft of the Medusa"'', pen and brown ink, 17.6 cm × 24.5 cm, [[Palais des Beaux-Arts de Lille

1818-19}}, Getty Center. Joseph served as model for at least two Black individuals in the final version of the artist's representation of Medusa's raft.

Sailors of the ''Méduse'' detained by the British after the sinking. They were returned to France afterwards.{{sfn

File:Portrait Study by Théodore Géricault, c. 1818-19, Getty Center.JPG

File:Pierre-Paul Prud'hon - Justice and Divine Vengeance Pursuing Crime.JPG

File:Raft-of-the-Medusa-copy par Pierre-Désiré Guillemet et Étienne Antoine Eugène Ronjat.jpg

Louis Nicolas Philippe Auguste de Forbin

The main 16 colours used for the painting<ref name=christiansen/>

Bonaparte Visiting the Plague-Victims of Jaffa

Nicolas Sebastien Maillot's ''Raft of the Medusa shown in Salon Carré of the Louvre'', 1831, [[Louvre

Plan of the ''Medusa'''s raft at the moment of its crew's rescue<ref>Grigsby, Darcy Grimaldo. ''Extremities: Painting Empire in Post-Revolutionary France''. [[Yale University Press

Diagram showing the outline of the two pyramidal structures that form the basis of the work. The position of the Argus rescue vessel is indicated by the yellow dot.

In 1820, Géricault successfully exhibited the painting in the [[Egyptian Hall

École nationale supérieure d'arts et métiers

alt=darkly shaded painting of two winged angels chasing man who runs away from a fallen, naked body

File:Théodore Géricault - Le Radeau de la Méduse esquisse (salon de 1819).jpg

The Defeat of the Floating Batteries at Gibraltar, September 1782

Copy of the work by [[Pierre-Désiré Guillemet

File:Raft of Méduse-Alexandre Corréard-IMG 4788-cropped.JPG

''Portrait Study of Joseph'', oil on canvas painting by Théodore Géricault, {{Circa

Bonaparte Visiting the Plague Victims of Jaffa

Category:Paintings in the Louvre by French artists

File:Egyptian Hall, Piccadilly 1815 edited.jpg

Detail from the lower left corner of the canvas showing two dying figures

''Cannibalism on the Raft of the Medusa'', crayon, ink wash, and gouache on paper, 28 cm × 38 cm, [[Louvre

Category:Paintings by Théodore Géricault

File:Théodore Géricault "The raft of the Medusa".jpg

:File:Ugolino and his Sons Starving to Death in the Tower 1806 1a.jpg


The Raft of the Medusa

Prompt: How does The Raft of the Medusa explain its Description?

The Raft of the Medusa portrays the moment when, after 13 days adrift on the raft, the remaining 15 survivors view a ship approaching from a distance. According to an early British reviewer, the work is set at a moment when "the ruin of the raft may be said to be complete". The painting is on a monumental scale of 491 cm × 716 cm (193 in × 282 in), so that most of the figures rendered are life-sized and those in the foreground almost twice life-size, pushed close to the picture plane and crowding onto the viewer, who is drawn into the physical action as a participant.The makeshift raft is shown as barely seaworthy as it rides the deep waves, while the men are rendered as broken and in utter despair. One old man holds the corpse of his son at his knees; another tears his hair out in frustration and defeat. A number of bodies litter the foreground, waiting to be swept away by the surrounding waves. The men in the middle have just viewed a rescue ship; one points it out to another, and an African crew member, Jean Charles, stands on an empty barrel and frantically waves his handkerchief to draw the ship's attention.The pictorial composition of the painting is constructed upon two pyramidal structures. The perimeter of the large mast on the left of the canvas forms the first. The horizontal grouping of dead and dying figures in the foreground forms the base from which the survivors emerge, surging upward towards the emotional peak, where the central figure waves desperately at a rescue ship.The viewer's attention is first drawn to the centre of the canvas, then follows the directional flow of the survivors' bodies, viewed from behind and straining to the right. According to the art historian Justin Wintle, "a single horizontal diagonal rhythm [leads] us from the dead at the bottom left, to the living at the apex." Two other diagonal lines are used to heighten the dramatic tension. One follows the mast and its rigging and leads the viewer's eye towards an approaching wave that threatens to engulf the raft, while the second, composed of reaching figures, leads to the distant silhouette of the Argus, the ship that eventually rescued the survivors.Géricault's palette is composed of pallid flesh tones, and the murky colours of the survivors' clothes, the sea and the clouds. Overall the painting is dark and relies largely on the use of sombre, mostly brown pigments, a palette that Géricault believed was effective in suggesting tragedy and pain. The work's lighting has been described as "Caravaggesque", after the Italian artist closely associated with tenebrism—the use of violent contrast between light and dark. Even Géricault's treatment of the sea is muted, being rendered in dark greens rather than the deep blues that could have afforded contrast with the tones of the raft and its figures. From the distant area of the rescue ship, a bright light shines, providing illumination to an otherwise dull brown scene.

File:The Medusa shown at the Louvre, in color.jpg

Detail of the crew member waving his handkerchief to draw the ship's attention

Géricault's ''Study for "The Raft of the Medusa"'', pen and brown ink, 17.6 cm × 24.5 cm, [[Palais des Beaux-Arts de Lille

1818-19}}, Getty Center. Joseph served as model for at least two Black individuals in the final version of the artist's representation of Medusa's raft.

Sailors of the ''Méduse'' detained by the British after the sinking. They were returned to France afterwards.{{sfn

File:Portrait Study by Théodore Géricault, c. 1818-19, Getty Center.JPG

File:Pierre-Paul Prud'hon - Justice and Divine Vengeance Pursuing Crime.JPG

File:Raft-of-the-Medusa-copy par Pierre-Désiré Guillemet et Étienne Antoine Eugène Ronjat.jpg

Louis Nicolas Philippe Auguste de Forbin

The main 16 colours used for the painting<ref name=christiansen/>

Bonaparte Visiting the Plague-Victims of Jaffa

Nicolas Sebastien Maillot's ''Raft of the Medusa shown in Salon Carré of the Louvre'', 1831, [[Louvre

Plan of the ''Medusa'''s raft at the moment of its crew's rescue<ref>Grigsby, Darcy Grimaldo. ''Extremities: Painting Empire in Post-Revolutionary France''. [[Yale University Press

Diagram showing the outline of the two pyramidal structures that form the basis of the work. The position of the Argus rescue vessel is indicated by the yellow dot.

In 1820, Géricault successfully exhibited the painting in the [[Egyptian Hall

École nationale supérieure d'arts et métiers

alt=darkly shaded painting of two winged angels chasing man who runs away from a fallen, naked body

File:Théodore Géricault - Le Radeau de la Méduse esquisse (salon de 1819).jpg

The Defeat of the Floating Batteries at Gibraltar, September 1782

Copy of the work by [[Pierre-Désiré Guillemet

File:Raft of Méduse-Alexandre Corréard-IMG 4788-cropped.JPG

''Portrait Study of Joseph'', oil on canvas painting by Théodore Géricault, {{Circa

Bonaparte Visiting the Plague Victims of Jaffa

Category:Paintings in the Louvre by French artists

File:Egyptian Hall, Piccadilly 1815 edited.jpg

Detail from the lower left corner of the canvas showing two dying figures

''Cannibalism on the Raft of the Medusa'', crayon, ink wash, and gouache on paper, 28 cm × 38 cm, [[Louvre

Category:Paintings by Théodore Géricault

File:Théodore Géricault "The raft of the Medusa".jpg

:File:Ugolino and his Sons Starving to Death in the Tower 1806 1a.jpg


The Raft of the Medusa

Prompt: In The Raft of the Medusa, how is the Description discussed?

The Raft of the Medusa portrays the moment when, after 13 days adrift on the raft, the remaining 15 survivors view a ship approaching from a distance. According to an early British reviewer, the work is set at a moment when "the ruin of the raft may be said to be complete". The painting is on a monumental scale of 491 cm × 716 cm (193 in × 282 in), so that most of the figures rendered are life-sized and those in the foreground almost twice life-size, pushed close to the picture plane and crowding onto the viewer, who is drawn into the physical action as a participant.The makeshift raft is shown as barely seaworthy as it rides the deep waves, while the men are rendered as broken and in utter despair. One old man holds the corpse of his son at his knees; another tears his hair out in frustration and defeat. A number of bodies litter the foreground, waiting to be swept away by the surrounding waves. The men in the middle have just viewed a rescue ship; one points it out to another, and an African crew member, Jean Charles, stands on an empty barrel and frantically waves his handkerchief to draw the ship's attention.The pictorial composition of the painting is constructed upon two pyramidal structures. The perimeter of the large mast on the left of the canvas forms the first. The horizontal grouping of dead and dying figures in the foreground forms the base from which the survivors emerge, surging upward towards the emotional peak, where the central figure waves desperately at a rescue ship.The viewer's attention is first drawn to the centre of the canvas, then follows the directional flow of the survivors' bodies, viewed from behind and straining to the right. According to the art historian Justin Wintle, "a single horizontal diagonal rhythm [leads] us from the dead at the bottom left, to the living at the apex." Two other diagonal lines are used to heighten the dramatic tension. One follows the mast and its rigging and leads the viewer's eye towards an approaching wave that threatens to engulf the raft, while the second, composed of reaching figures, leads to the distant silhouette of the Argus, the ship that eventually rescued the survivors.Géricault's palette is composed of pallid flesh tones, and the murky colours of the survivors' clothes, the sea and the clouds. Overall the painting is dark and relies largely on the use of sombre, mostly brown pigments, a palette that Géricault believed was effective in suggesting tragedy and pain. The work's lighting has been described as "Caravaggesque", after the Italian artist closely associated with tenebrism—the use of violent contrast between light and dark. Even Géricault's treatment of the sea is muted, being rendered in dark greens rather than the deep blues that could have afforded contrast with the tones of the raft and its figures. From the distant area of the rescue ship, a bright light shines, providing illumination to an otherwise dull brown scene.

File:The Medusa shown at the Louvre, in color.jpg

Detail of the crew member waving his handkerchief to draw the ship's attention

Géricault's ''Study for "The Raft of the Medusa"'', pen and brown ink, 17.6 cm × 24.5 cm, [[Palais des Beaux-Arts de Lille

1818-19}}, Getty Center. Joseph served as model for at least two Black individuals in the final version of the artist's representation of Medusa's raft.

Sailors of the ''Méduse'' detained by the British after the sinking. They were returned to France afterwards.{{sfn

File:Portrait Study by Théodore Géricault, c. 1818-19, Getty Center.JPG

File:Pierre-Paul Prud'hon - Justice and Divine Vengeance Pursuing Crime.JPG

File:Raft-of-the-Medusa-copy par Pierre-Désiré Guillemet et Étienne Antoine Eugène Ronjat.jpg

Louis Nicolas Philippe Auguste de Forbin

The main 16 colours used for the painting<ref name=christiansen/>

Bonaparte Visiting the Plague-Victims of Jaffa

Nicolas Sebastien Maillot's ''Raft of the Medusa shown in Salon Carré of the Louvre'', 1831, [[Louvre

Plan of the ''Medusa'''s raft at the moment of its crew's rescue<ref>Grigsby, Darcy Grimaldo. ''Extremities: Painting Empire in Post-Revolutionary France''. [[Yale University Press

Diagram showing the outline of the two pyramidal structures that form the basis of the work. The position of the Argus rescue vessel is indicated by the yellow dot.

In 1820, Géricault successfully exhibited the painting in the [[Egyptian Hall

École nationale supérieure d'arts et métiers

alt=darkly shaded painting of two winged angels chasing man who runs away from a fallen, naked body

File:Théodore Géricault - Le Radeau de la Méduse esquisse (salon de 1819).jpg

The Defeat of the Floating Batteries at Gibraltar, September 1782

Copy of the work by [[Pierre-Désiré Guillemet

File:Raft of Méduse-Alexandre Corréard-IMG 4788-cropped.JPG

''Portrait Study of Joseph'', oil on canvas painting by Théodore Géricault, {{Circa

Bonaparte Visiting the Plague Victims of Jaffa

Category:Paintings in the Louvre by French artists

File:Egyptian Hall, Piccadilly 1815 edited.jpg

Detail from the lower left corner of the canvas showing two dying figures

''Cannibalism on the Raft of the Medusa'', crayon, ink wash, and gouache on paper, 28 cm × 38 cm, [[Louvre

Category:Paintings by Théodore Géricault

File:Théodore Géricault "The raft of the Medusa".jpg

:File:Ugolino and his Sons Starving to Death in the Tower 1806 1a.jpg


The Raft of the Medusa

Prompt: In the context of The Raft of the Medusa, explain the Research and preparatory studies and the Execution.

Géricault was captivated by accounts of the widely publicised 1816 shipwreck, and realised that a depiction of the event might be an opportunity to establish his reputation as a painter. Having decided to proceed, he undertook extensive research before he began the painting. In early 1818, he met with two survivors: Henri Savigny, a surgeon, and Alexandre Corréard, an engineer from the École nationale supérieure d'arts et métiers. Their emotional descriptions of their experiences largely inspired the tone of the final painting. According to the art historian Georges-Antoine Borias, "Géricault established his studio across from Beaujon hospital. And here began a mournful descent. Behind locked doors he threw himself into his work. Nothing repulsed him. He was dreaded and avoided."Earlier travels had exposed Géricault to victims of insanity and plague, and while researching the Méduse his effort to be historically accurate and realistic led to an obsession with the stiffness of corpses. To achieve the most authentic rendering of the flesh tones of the dead, he made sketches of bodies in the morgue of the Hospital Beaujon, studied the faces of dying hospital patients, brought severed limbs back to his studio to study their decay, and for a fortnight drew a severed head, borrowed from a lunatic asylum and stored on his studio roof.He worked with Corréard, Savigny and another of the survivors, the carpenter Lavillette, to construct an accurately detailed scale model of the raft, which was reproduced on the finished canvas, even showing the gaps between some of the planks. Géricault posed models, compiled a dossier of documentation, copied relevant paintings by other artists, and went to Le Havre to study the sea and sky. Despite suffering from fever, he travelled to the coast on a number of occasions to witness storms breaking on the shore, and a visit to artists in England afforded further opportunity to study the elements while crossing the English Channel.He drew and painted numerous preparatory sketches while deciding which of several alternative moments of the disaster he would depict in the final work. The painting's conception proved slow and difficult for Géricault, and he struggled to select a single pictorially effective moment to best capture the inherent drama of the event.Among the scenes he considered were the mutiny against the officers from the second day on the raft, the cannibalism that occurred after only a few days, and the rescue. Géricault ultimately settled on the moment, recounted by one of the survivors, when they first saw, on the horizon, the approaching rescue ship Argus—visible in the upper right of the painting—which they attempted to signal. The ship, however, passed by. In the words of one of the surviving crew members, "From the delirium of joy, we fell into profound despondency and grief."To a public well-versed in the particulars of the disaster, the scene would have been understood to encompass the aftermath of the crew's abandonment, focusing on the moment when all hope seemed lost—the Argus reappeared two hours later and rescued those who remained.The author Rupert Christiansen points out that the painting depicts more figures than had been on the raft at the time of the rescue—including corpses which were not recorded by the rescuers. Instead of the sunny morning and calm water reported on the day of the rescue, Géricault depicted a gathering storm and dark, heaving sea to reinforce the emotional gloom.

File:The Medusa shown at the Louvre, in color.jpg

Detail of the crew member waving his handkerchief to draw the ship's attention

Géricault's ''Study for "The Raft of the Medusa"'', pen and brown ink, 17.6 cm × 24.5 cm, [[Palais des Beaux-Arts de Lille

1818-19}}, Getty Center. Joseph served as model for at least two Black individuals in the final version of the artist's representation of Medusa's raft.

Sailors of the ''Méduse'' detained by the British after the sinking. They were returned to France afterwards.{{sfn

File:Portrait Study by Théodore Géricault, c. 1818-19, Getty Center.JPG

File:Pierre-Paul Prud'hon - Justice and Divine Vengeance Pursuing Crime.JPG

File:Raft-of-the-Medusa-copy par Pierre-Désiré Guillemet et Étienne Antoine Eugène Ronjat.jpg

Louis Nicolas Philippe Auguste de Forbin

The main 16 colours used for the painting<ref name=christiansen/>

Bonaparte Visiting the Plague-Victims of Jaffa

Nicolas Sebastien Maillot's ''Raft of the Medusa shown in Salon Carré of the Louvre'', 1831, [[Louvre

Plan of the ''Medusa'''s raft at the moment of its crew's rescue<ref>Grigsby, Darcy Grimaldo. ''Extremities: Painting Empire in Post-Revolutionary France''. [[Yale University Press

Diagram showing the outline of the two pyramidal structures that form the basis of the work. The position of the Argus rescue vessel is indicated by the yellow dot.

In 1820, Géricault successfully exhibited the painting in the [[Egyptian Hall

alt=darkly shaded painting of two winged angels chasing man who runs away from a fallen, naked body

File:Théodore Géricault - Le Radeau de la Méduse esquisse (salon de 1819).jpg

The Defeat of the Floating Batteries at Gibraltar, September 1782

Copy of the work by [[Pierre-Désiré Guillemet

File:Raft of Méduse-Alexandre Corréard-IMG 4788-cropped.JPG

''Portrait Study of Joseph'', oil on canvas painting by Théodore Géricault, {{Circa

Bonaparte Visiting the Plague Victims of Jaffa

Category:Paintings in the Louvre by French artists

File:Egyptian Hall, Piccadilly 1815 edited.jpg

Detail from the lower left corner of the canvas showing two dying figures

''Cannibalism on the Raft of the Medusa'', crayon, ink wash, and gouache on paper, 28 cm × 38 cm, [[Louvre

Category:Paintings by Théodore Géricault

File:Théodore Géricault "The raft of the Medusa".jpg

:File:Ugolino and his Sons Starving to Death in the Tower 1806 1a.jpg


The Raft of the Medusa

Prompt: Explain the Research and preparatory studies about the Execution of this artwork, The Raft of the Medusa.

Géricault was captivated by accounts of the widely publicised 1816 shipwreck, and realised that a depiction of the event might be an opportunity to establish his reputation as a painter. Having decided to proceed, he undertook extensive research before he began the painting. In early 1818, he met with two survivors: Henri Savigny, a surgeon, and Alexandre Corréard, an engineer from the École nationale supérieure d'arts et métiers. Their emotional descriptions of their experiences largely inspired the tone of the final painting. According to the art historian Georges-Antoine Borias, "Géricault established his studio across from Beaujon hospital. And here began a mournful descent. Behind locked doors he threw himself into his work. Nothing repulsed him. He was dreaded and avoided."Earlier travels had exposed Géricault to victims of insanity and plague, and while researching the Méduse his effort to be historically accurate and realistic led to an obsession with the stiffness of corpses. To achieve the most authentic rendering of the flesh tones of the dead, he made sketches of bodies in the morgue of the Hospital Beaujon, studied the faces of dying hospital patients, brought severed limbs back to his studio to study their decay, and for a fortnight drew a severed head, borrowed from a lunatic asylum and stored on his studio roof.He worked with Corréard, Savigny and another of the survivors, the carpenter Lavillette, to construct an accurately detailed scale model of the raft, which was reproduced on the finished canvas, even showing the gaps between some of the planks. Géricault posed models, compiled a dossier of documentation, copied relevant paintings by other artists, and went to Le Havre to study the sea and sky. Despite suffering from fever, he travelled to the coast on a number of occasions to witness storms breaking on the shore, and a visit to artists in England afforded further opportunity to study the elements while crossing the English Channel.He drew and painted numerous preparatory sketches while deciding which of several alternative moments of the disaster he would depict in the final work. The painting's conception proved slow and difficult for Géricault, and he struggled to select a single pictorially effective moment to best capture the inherent drama of the event.Among the scenes he considered were the mutiny against the officers from the second day on the raft, the cannibalism that occurred after only a few days, and the rescue. Géricault ultimately settled on the moment, recounted by one of the survivors, when they first saw, on the horizon, the approaching rescue ship Argus—visible in the upper right of the painting—which they attempted to signal. The ship, however, passed by. In the words of one of the surviving crew members, "From the delirium of joy, we fell into profound despondency and grief."To a public well-versed in the particulars of the disaster, the scene would have been understood to encompass the aftermath of the crew's abandonment, focusing on the moment when all hope seemed lost—the Argus reappeared two hours later and rescued those who remained.The author Rupert Christiansen points out that the painting depicts more figures than had been on the raft at the time of the rescue—including corpses which were not recorded by the rescuers. Instead of the sunny morning and calm water reported on the day of the rescue, Géricault depicted a gathering storm and dark, heaving sea to reinforce the emotional gloom.

File:The Medusa shown at the Louvre, in color.jpg

Detail of the crew member waving his handkerchief to draw the ship's attention

Géricault's ''Study for "The Raft of the Medusa"'', pen and brown ink, 17.6 cm × 24.5 cm, [[Palais des Beaux-Arts de Lille

1818-19}}, Getty Center. Joseph served as model for at least two Black individuals in the final version of the artist's representation of Medusa's raft.

Sailors of the ''Méduse'' detained by the British after the sinking. They were returned to France afterwards.{{sfn

File:Portrait Study by Théodore Géricault, c. 1818-19, Getty Center.JPG

File:Pierre-Paul Prud'hon - Justice and Divine Vengeance Pursuing Crime.JPG

File:Raft-of-the-Medusa-copy par Pierre-Désiré Guillemet et Étienne Antoine Eugène Ronjat.jpg

Louis Nicolas Philippe Auguste de Forbin

The main 16 colours used for the painting<ref name=christiansen/>

Bonaparte Visiting the Plague-Victims of Jaffa

Nicolas Sebastien Maillot's ''Raft of the Medusa shown in Salon Carré of the Louvre'', 1831, [[Louvre

Plan of the ''Medusa'''s raft at the moment of its crew's rescue<ref>Grigsby, Darcy Grimaldo. ''Extremities: Painting Empire in Post-Revolutionary France''. [[Yale University Press

Diagram showing the outline of the two pyramidal structures that form the basis of the work. The position of the Argus rescue vessel is indicated by the yellow dot.

In 1820, Géricault successfully exhibited the painting in the [[Egyptian Hall

alt=darkly shaded painting of two winged angels chasing man who runs away from a fallen, naked body

File:Théodore Géricault - Le Radeau de la Méduse esquisse (salon de 1819).jpg

The Defeat of the Floating Batteries at Gibraltar, September 1782

Copy of the work by [[Pierre-Désiré Guillemet

File:Raft of Méduse-Alexandre Corréard-IMG 4788-cropped.JPG

''Portrait Study of Joseph'', oil on canvas painting by Théodore Géricault, {{Circa

Bonaparte Visiting the Plague Victims of Jaffa

Category:Paintings in the Louvre by French artists

File:Egyptian Hall, Piccadilly 1815 edited.jpg

Detail from the lower left corner of the canvas showing two dying figures

''Cannibalism on the Raft of the Medusa'', crayon, ink wash, and gouache on paper, 28 cm × 38 cm, [[Louvre

Category:Paintings by Théodore Géricault

File:Théodore Géricault "The raft of the Medusa".jpg

:File:Ugolino and his Sons Starving to Death in the Tower 1806 1a.jpg


The Raft of the Medusa

Prompt: In The Raft of the Medusa, how is the Research and preparatory studies of the Execution explained?

Géricault was captivated by accounts of the widely publicised 1816 shipwreck, and realised that a depiction of the event might be an opportunity to establish his reputation as a painter. Having decided to proceed, he undertook extensive research before he began the painting. In early 1818, he met with two survivors: Henri Savigny, a surgeon, and Alexandre Corréard, an engineer from the École nationale supérieure d'arts et métiers. Their emotional descriptions of their experiences largely inspired the tone of the final painting. According to the art historian Georges-Antoine Borias, "Géricault established his studio across from Beaujon hospital. And here began a mournful descent. Behind locked doors he threw himself into his work. Nothing repulsed him. He was dreaded and avoided."Earlier travels had exposed Géricault to victims of insanity and plague, and while researching the Méduse his effort to be historically accurate and realistic led to an obsession with the stiffness of corpses. To achieve the most authentic rendering of the flesh tones of the dead, he made sketches of bodies in the morgue of the Hospital Beaujon, studied the faces of dying hospital patients, brought severed limbs back to his studio to study their decay, and for a fortnight drew a severed head, borrowed from a lunatic asylum and stored on his studio roof.He worked with Corréard, Savigny and another of the survivors, the carpenter Lavillette, to construct an accurately detailed scale model of the raft, which was reproduced on the finished canvas, even showing the gaps between some of the planks. Géricault posed models, compiled a dossier of documentation, copied relevant paintings by other artists, and went to Le Havre to study the sea and sky. Despite suffering from fever, he travelled to the coast on a number of occasions to witness storms breaking on the shore, and a visit to artists in England afforded further opportunity to study the elements while crossing the English Channel.He drew and painted numerous preparatory sketches while deciding which of several alternative moments of the disaster he would depict in the final work. The painting's conception proved slow and difficult for Géricault, and he struggled to select a single pictorially effective moment to best capture the inherent drama of the event.Among the scenes he considered were the mutiny against the officers from the second day on the raft, the cannibalism that occurred after only a few days, and the rescue. Géricault ultimately settled on the moment, recounted by one of the survivors, when they first saw, on the horizon, the approaching rescue ship Argus—visible in the upper right of the painting—which they attempted to signal. The ship, however, passed by. In the words of one of the surviving crew members, "From the delirium of joy, we fell into profound despondency and grief."To a public well-versed in the particulars of the disaster, the scene would have been understood to encompass the aftermath of the crew's abandonment, focusing on the moment when all hope seemed lost—the Argus reappeared two hours later and rescued those who remained.The author Rupert Christiansen points out that the painting depicts more figures than had been on the raft at the time of the rescue—including corpses which were not recorded by the rescuers. Instead of the sunny morning and calm water reported on the day of the rescue, Géricault depicted a gathering storm and dark, heaving sea to reinforce the emotional gloom.

File:The Medusa shown at the Louvre, in color.jpg

Detail of the crew member waving his handkerchief to draw the ship's attention

Géricault's ''Study for "The Raft of the Medusa"'', pen and brown ink, 17.6 cm × 24.5 cm, [[Palais des Beaux-Arts de Lille

1818-19}}, Getty Center. Joseph served as model for at least two Black individuals in the final version of the artist's representation of Medusa's raft.

Sailors of the ''Méduse'' detained by the British after the sinking. They were returned to France afterwards.{{sfn

File:Portrait Study by Théodore Géricault, c. 1818-19, Getty Center.JPG

File:Pierre-Paul Prud'hon - Justice and Divine Vengeance Pursuing Crime.JPG

File:Raft-of-the-Medusa-copy par Pierre-Désiré Guillemet et Étienne Antoine Eugène Ronjat.jpg

Louis Nicolas Philippe Auguste de Forbin

The main 16 colours used for the painting<ref name=christiansen/>

Bonaparte Visiting the Plague-Victims of Jaffa

Nicolas Sebastien Maillot's ''Raft of the Medusa shown in Salon Carré of the Louvre'', 1831, [[Louvre

Plan of the ''Medusa'''s raft at the moment of its crew's rescue<ref>Grigsby, Darcy Grimaldo. ''Extremities: Painting Empire in Post-Revolutionary France''. [[Yale University Press

Diagram showing the outline of the two pyramidal structures that form the basis of the work. The position of the Argus rescue vessel is indicated by the yellow dot.

In 1820, Géricault successfully exhibited the painting in the [[Egyptian Hall

alt=darkly shaded painting of two winged angels chasing man who runs away from a fallen, naked body

File:Théodore Géricault - Le Radeau de la Méduse esquisse (salon de 1819).jpg

The Defeat of the Floating Batteries at Gibraltar, September 1782

Copy of the work by [[Pierre-Désiré Guillemet

File:Raft of Méduse-Alexandre Corréard-IMG 4788-cropped.JPG

''Portrait Study of Joseph'', oil on canvas painting by Théodore Géricault, {{Circa

Bonaparte Visiting the Plague Victims of Jaffa

Category:Paintings in the Louvre by French artists

File:Egyptian Hall, Piccadilly 1815 edited.jpg

Detail from the lower left corner of the canvas showing two dying figures

''Cannibalism on the Raft of the Medusa'', crayon, ink wash, and gouache on paper, 28 cm × 38 cm, [[Louvre

Category:Paintings by Théodore Géricault

File:Théodore Géricault "The raft of the Medusa".jpg

:File:Ugolino and his Sons Starving to Death in the Tower 1806 1a.jpg


The Raft of the Medusa

Prompt: Describe the characteristics of the Research and preparatory studies in The Raft of the Medusa's Execution.

Géricault was captivated by accounts of the widely publicised 1816 shipwreck, and realised that a depiction of the event might be an opportunity to establish his reputation as a painter. Having decided to proceed, he undertook extensive research before he began the painting. In early 1818, he met with two survivors: Henri Savigny, a surgeon, and Alexandre Corréard, an engineer from the École nationale supérieure d'arts et métiers. Their emotional descriptions of their experiences largely inspired the tone of the final painting. According to the art historian Georges-Antoine Borias, "Géricault established his studio across from Beaujon hospital. And here began a mournful descent. Behind locked doors he threw himself into his work. Nothing repulsed him. He was dreaded and avoided."Earlier travels had exposed Géricault to victims of insanity and plague, and while researching the Méduse his effort to be historically accurate and realistic led to an obsession with the stiffness of corpses. To achieve the most authentic rendering of the flesh tones of the dead, he made sketches of bodies in the morgue of the Hospital Beaujon, studied the faces of dying hospital patients, brought severed limbs back to his studio to study their decay, and for a fortnight drew a severed head, borrowed from a lunatic asylum and stored on his studio roof.He worked with Corréard, Savigny and another of the survivors, the carpenter Lavillette, to construct an accurately detailed scale model of the raft, which was reproduced on the finished canvas, even showing the gaps between some of the planks. Géricault posed models, compiled a dossier of documentation, copied relevant paintings by other artists, and went to Le Havre to study the sea and sky. Despite suffering from fever, he travelled to the coast on a number of occasions to witness storms breaking on the shore, and a visit to artists in England afforded further opportunity to study the elements while crossing the English Channel.He drew and painted numerous preparatory sketches while deciding which of several alternative moments of the disaster he would depict in the final work. The painting's conception proved slow and difficult for Géricault, and he struggled to select a single pictorially effective moment to best capture the inherent drama of the event.Among the scenes he considered were the mutiny against the officers from the second day on the raft, the cannibalism that occurred after only a few days, and the rescue. Géricault ultimately settled on the moment, recounted by one of the survivors, when they first saw, on the horizon, the approaching rescue ship Argus—visible in the upper right of the painting—which they attempted to signal. The ship, however, passed by. In the words of one of the surviving crew members, "From the delirium of joy, we fell into profound despondency and grief."To a public well-versed in the particulars of the disaster, the scene would have been understood to encompass the aftermath of the crew's abandonment, focusing on the moment when all hope seemed lost—the Argus reappeared two hours later and rescued those who remained.The author Rupert Christiansen points out that the painting depicts more figures than had been on the raft at the time of the rescue—including corpses which were not recorded by the rescuers. Instead of the sunny morning and calm water reported on the day of the rescue, Géricault depicted a gathering storm and dark, heaving sea to reinforce the emotional gloom.

File:The Medusa shown at the Louvre, in color.jpg

Detail of the crew member waving his handkerchief to draw the ship's attention

Géricault's ''Study for "The Raft of the Medusa"'', pen and brown ink, 17.6 cm × 24.5 cm, [[Palais des Beaux-Arts de Lille

1818-19}}, Getty Center. Joseph served as model for at least two Black individuals in the final version of the artist's representation of Medusa's raft.

Sailors of the ''Méduse'' detained by the British after the sinking. They were returned to France afterwards.{{sfn

File:Portrait Study by Théodore Géricault, c. 1818-19, Getty Center.JPG

File:Pierre-Paul Prud'hon - Justice and Divine Vengeance Pursuing Crime.JPG

File:Raft-of-the-Medusa-copy par Pierre-Désiré Guillemet et Étienne Antoine Eugène Ronjat.jpg

Louis Nicolas Philippe Auguste de Forbin

The main 16 colours used for the painting<ref name=christiansen/>

Bonaparte Visiting the Plague-Victims of Jaffa

Nicolas Sebastien Maillot's ''Raft of the Medusa shown in Salon Carré of the Louvre'', 1831, [[Louvre

Plan of the ''Medusa'''s raft at the moment of its crew's rescue<ref>Grigsby, Darcy Grimaldo. ''Extremities: Painting Empire in Post-Revolutionary France''. [[Yale University Press

Diagram showing the outline of the two pyramidal structures that form the basis of the work. The position of the Argus rescue vessel is indicated by the yellow dot.

In 1820, Géricault successfully exhibited the painting in the [[Egyptian Hall

alt=darkly shaded painting of two winged angels chasing man who runs away from a fallen, naked body

File:Théodore Géricault - Le Radeau de la Méduse esquisse (salon de 1819).jpg

The Defeat of the Floating Batteries at Gibraltar, September 1782

Copy of the work by [[Pierre-Désiré Guillemet

File:Raft of Méduse-Alexandre Corréard-IMG 4788-cropped.JPG

''Portrait Study of Joseph'', oil on canvas painting by Théodore Géricault, {{Circa

Bonaparte Visiting the Plague Victims of Jaffa

Category:Paintings in the Louvre by French artists

File:Egyptian Hall, Piccadilly 1815 edited.jpg

Detail from the lower left corner of the canvas showing two dying figures

''Cannibalism on the Raft of the Medusa'', crayon, ink wash, and gouache on paper, 28 cm × 38 cm, [[Louvre

Category:Paintings by Théodore Géricault

File:Théodore Géricault "The raft of the Medusa".jpg

:File:Ugolino and his Sons Starving to Death in the Tower 1806 1a.jpg


The Raft of the Medusa

Prompt: In the context of The Raft of the Medusa, explain the Final work and the Execution.

Géricault, who had just been forced to break off a painful affair with his aunt, shaved his head and from November 1818 to July 1819 lived a disciplined monastic existence in his studio in the Faubourg du Roule, being brought meals by his concierge and only occasionally spending an evening out. He and his 18-year-old assistant, Louis-Alexis Jamar, slept in a small room adjacent to the studio; occasionally there were arguments and on one occasion Jamar walked off; after two days Géricault persuaded him to return. In his orderly studio, the artist worked in a methodical fashion in complete silence and found that even the noise of a mouse was sufficient to break his concentration.He used friends as models, most notably the painter Eugène Delacroix (1798–1863), who modelled for the figure in the foreground with face turned downward and one arm outstretched. Two of the raft's survivors are seen in shadow at the foot of the mast; three of the figures were painted from life—Corréard, Savigny and Lavillette. Jamar posed nude for the dead youth shown in the foreground about to slip into the sea, and was also the model for two other figures. Much later, Delacroix—who would become the standard-bearer of French Romanticism after Géricault's death—wrote, "Géricault allowed me to see his Raft of Medusa while he was still working on it. It made so tremendous an impression on me that when I came out of the studio I started running like a madman and did not stop till I reached my own room."Géricault, who was an abolitionist, hired a Haitian model named Joseph to paint at least two Black individuals on the raft. Most notably, Joseph served as a model for what is considered to be a representation of Jean Charles, a military officer waving a dark red handkerchief in hopes of being noticed by the passing ship. Influenced by an ancient Greek Classical sculpture titled Belvedere Torso and with his back turned toward the viewer, Joseph's silhouette is placed atop the pyramidal grouping of survivors in the composition's right half. In addition, a small rendering of Joseph's face, with his gaze directed toward the spectator, is placed within a group of three figures positioned between the wooden mast and the supporting rope on the mast's right-hand side.Géricault painted with small brushes and viscous oils, which allowed little time for reworking and were dry by the next morning. He kept his colours apart from each other: his palette consisted of vermilion, white, naples yellow, two different yellow ochres, two red ochres, raw sienna, light red, burnt sienna, crimson lake, Prussian blue, peach black, ivory black, Cassel earth and bitumen. Bitumen has a velvety, lustrous appearance when first painted, but over a period of time discolours to a black treacle, while contracting and thus creating a wrinkled surface, which cannot be renovated. As a result of this, details in large areas of the work can hardly be discerned today.Géricault drew an outline sketch of the composition onto the canvas. He then posed models one at a time, completing each figure before moving onto the next, as opposed to the more usual method of working over the whole composition. The concentration in this way on individual elements gave the work both a "shocking physicality" and a sense of deliberate theatricality—which some critics consider an adverse effect. Over 30 years after the completion of the work, his friend Montfort recalled:[Géricault's method] astonished me as much as his intense industry. He painted directly on the white canvas, without rough sketch or any preparation of any sort, except for the firmly traced contours, and yet the solidity of the work was none the worse for it. I was struck by the keen attention with which he examined the model before touching brush to canvas. He seemed to proceed slowly, when in reality he executed very rapidly, placing one touch after the other in its place, rarely having to go over his work more than once. There was very little perceptible movement of his body or arms. His expression was perfectly calm ...Working with little distraction, the artist completed the painting in eight months; the project as a whole took 18 months.

File:The Medusa shown at the Louvre, in color.jpg

Detail of the crew member waving his handkerchief to draw the ship's attention

Géricault's ''Study for "The Raft of the Medusa"'', pen and brown ink, 17.6 cm × 24.5 cm, [[Palais des Beaux-Arts de Lille

1818-19}}, Getty Center. Joseph served as model for at least two Black individuals in the final version of the artist's representation of Medusa's raft.

Sailors of the ''Méduse'' detained by the British after the sinking. They were returned to France afterwards.{{sfn

File:Portrait Study by Théodore Géricault, c. 1818-19, Getty Center.JPG

File:Pierre-Paul Prud'hon - Justice and Divine Vengeance Pursuing Crime.JPG

File:Raft-of-the-Medusa-copy par Pierre-Désiré Guillemet et Étienne Antoine Eugène Ronjat.jpg

Louis Nicolas Philippe Auguste de Forbin

The main 16 colours used for the painting<ref name=christiansen/>

Bonaparte Visiting the Plague-Victims of Jaffa

Nicolas Sebastien Maillot's ''Raft of the Medusa shown in Salon Carré of the Louvre'', 1831, [[Louvre

Plan of the ''Medusa'''s raft at the moment of its crew's rescue<ref>Grigsby, Darcy Grimaldo. ''Extremities: Painting Empire in Post-Revolutionary France''. [[Yale University Press

Diagram showing the outline of the two pyramidal structures that form the basis of the work. The position of the Argus rescue vessel is indicated by the yellow dot.

In 1820, Géricault successfully exhibited the painting in the [[Egyptian Hall

École nationale supérieure d'arts et métiers

alt=darkly shaded painting of two winged angels chasing man who runs away from a fallen, naked body

File:Théodore Géricault - Le Radeau de la Méduse esquisse (salon de 1819).jpg

The Defeat of the Floating Batteries at Gibraltar, September 1782

Copy of the work by [[Pierre-Désiré Guillemet

File:Raft of Méduse-Alexandre Corréard-IMG 4788-cropped.JPG

''Portrait Study of Joseph'', oil on canvas painting by Théodore Géricault, {{Circa

Bonaparte Visiting the Plague Victims of Jaffa

Category:Paintings in the Louvre by French artists

File:Egyptian Hall, Piccadilly 1815 edited.jpg

Detail from the lower left corner of the canvas showing two dying figures

''Cannibalism on the Raft of the Medusa'', crayon, ink wash, and gouache on paper, 28 cm × 38 cm, [[Louvre

Category:Paintings by Théodore Géricault

File:Théodore Géricault "The raft of the Medusa".jpg

:File:Ugolino and his Sons Starving to Death in the Tower 1806 1a.jpg


The Raft of the Medusa

Prompt: Explain the Final work about the Execution of this artwork, The Raft of the Medusa.

Géricault, who had just been forced to break off a painful affair with his aunt, shaved his head and from November 1818 to July 1819 lived a disciplined monastic existence in his studio in the Faubourg du Roule, being brought meals by his concierge and only occasionally spending an evening out. He and his 18-year-old assistant, Louis-Alexis Jamar, slept in a small room adjacent to the studio; occasionally there were arguments and on one occasion Jamar walked off; after two days Géricault persuaded him to return. In his orderly studio, the artist worked in a methodical fashion in complete silence and found that even the noise of a mouse was sufficient to break his concentration.He used friends as models, most notably the painter Eugène Delacroix (1798–1863), who modelled for the figure in the foreground with face turned downward and one arm outstretched. Two of the raft's survivors are seen in shadow at the foot of the mast; three of the figures were painted from life—Corréard, Savigny and Lavillette. Jamar posed nude for the dead youth shown in the foreground about to slip into the sea, and was also the model for two other figures. Much later, Delacroix—who would become the standard-bearer of French Romanticism after Géricault's death—wrote, "Géricault allowed me to see his Raft of Medusa while he was still working on it. It made so tremendous an impression on me that when I came out of the studio I started running like a madman and did not stop till I reached my own room."Géricault, who was an abolitionist, hired a Haitian model named Joseph to paint at least two Black individuals on the raft. Most notably, Joseph served as a model for what is considered to be a representation of Jean Charles, a military officer waving a dark red handkerchief in hopes of being noticed by the passing ship. Influenced by an ancient Greek Classical sculpture titled Belvedere Torso and with his back turned toward the viewer, Joseph's silhouette is placed atop the pyramidal grouping of survivors in the composition's right half. In addition, a small rendering of Joseph's face, with his gaze directed toward the spectator, is placed within a group of three figures positioned between the wooden mast and the supporting rope on the mast's right-hand side.Géricault painted with small brushes and viscous oils, which allowed little time for reworking and were dry by the next morning. He kept his colours apart from each other: his palette consisted of vermilion, white, naples yellow, two different yellow ochres, two red ochres, raw sienna, light red, burnt sienna, crimson lake, Prussian blue, peach black, ivory black, Cassel earth and bitumen. Bitumen has a velvety, lustrous appearance when first painted, but over a period of time discolours to a black treacle, while contracting and thus creating a wrinkled surface, which cannot be renovated. As a result of this, details in large areas of the work can hardly be discerned today.Géricault drew an outline sketch of the composition onto the canvas. He then posed models one at a time, completing each figure before moving onto the next, as opposed to the more usual method of working over the whole composition. The concentration in this way on individual elements gave the work both a "shocking physicality" and a sense of deliberate theatricality—which some critics consider an adverse effect. Over 30 years after the completion of the work, his friend Montfort recalled:[Géricault's method] astonished me as much as his intense industry. He painted directly on the white canvas, without rough sketch or any preparation of any sort, except for the firmly traced contours, and yet the solidity of the work was none the worse for it. I was struck by the keen attention with which he examined the model before touching brush to canvas. He seemed to proceed slowly, when in reality he executed very rapidly, placing one touch after the other in its place, rarely having to go over his work more than once. There was very little perceptible movement of his body or arms. His expression was perfectly calm ...Working with little distraction, the artist completed the painting in eight months; the project as a whole took 18 months.

File:The Medusa shown at the Louvre, in color.jpg

Detail of the crew member waving his handkerchief to draw the ship's attention

Géricault's ''Study for "The Raft of the Medusa"'', pen and brown ink, 17.6 cm × 24.5 cm, [[Palais des Beaux-Arts de Lille

1818-19}}, Getty Center. Joseph served as model for at least two Black individuals in the final version of the artist's representation of Medusa's raft.

Sailors of the ''Méduse'' detained by the British after the sinking. They were returned to France afterwards.{{sfn

File:Portrait Study by Théodore Géricault, c. 1818-19, Getty Center.JPG

File:Pierre-Paul Prud'hon - Justice and Divine Vengeance Pursuing Crime.JPG

File:Raft-of-the-Medusa-copy par Pierre-Désiré Guillemet et Étienne Antoine Eugène Ronjat.jpg

Louis Nicolas Philippe Auguste de Forbin

The main 16 colours used for the painting<ref name=christiansen/>

Bonaparte Visiting the Plague-Victims of Jaffa

Nicolas Sebastien Maillot's ''Raft of the Medusa shown in Salon Carré of the Louvre'', 1831, [[Louvre

Plan of the ''Medusa'''s raft at the moment of its crew's rescue<ref>Grigsby, Darcy Grimaldo. ''Extremities: Painting Empire in Post-Revolutionary France''. [[Yale University Press

Diagram showing the outline of the two pyramidal structures that form the basis of the work. The position of the Argus rescue vessel is indicated by the yellow dot.

In 1820, Géricault successfully exhibited the painting in the [[Egyptian Hall

École nationale supérieure d'arts et métiers

alt=darkly shaded painting of two winged angels chasing man who runs away from a fallen, naked body

File:Théodore Géricault - Le Radeau de la Méduse esquisse (salon de 1819).jpg

The Defeat of the Floating Batteries at Gibraltar, September 1782

Copy of the work by [[Pierre-Désiré Guillemet

File:Raft of Méduse-Alexandre Corréard-IMG 4788-cropped.JPG

''Portrait Study of Joseph'', oil on canvas painting by Théodore Géricault, {{Circa

Bonaparte Visiting the Plague Victims of Jaffa

Category:Paintings in the Louvre by French artists

File:Egyptian Hall, Piccadilly 1815 edited.jpg

Detail from the lower left corner of the canvas showing two dying figures

''Cannibalism on the Raft of the Medusa'', crayon, ink wash, and gouache on paper, 28 cm × 38 cm, [[Louvre

Category:Paintings by Théodore Géricault

File:Théodore Géricault "The raft of the Medusa".jpg

:File:Ugolino and his Sons Starving to Death in the Tower 1806 1a.jpg


The Raft of the Medusa

Prompt: In The Raft of the Medusa, how is the Final work of the Execution explained?

Géricault, who had just been forced to break off a painful affair with his aunt, shaved his head and from November 1818 to July 1819 lived a disciplined monastic existence in his studio in the Faubourg du Roule, being brought meals by his concierge and only occasionally spending an evening out. He and his 18-year-old assistant, Louis-Alexis Jamar, slept in a small room adjacent to the studio; occasionally there were arguments and on one occasion Jamar walked off; after two days Géricault persuaded him to return. In his orderly studio, the artist worked in a methodical fashion in complete silence and found that even the noise of a mouse was sufficient to break his concentration.He used friends as models, most notably the painter Eugène Delacroix (1798–1863), who modelled for the figure in the foreground with face turned downward and one arm outstretched. Two of the raft's survivors are seen in shadow at the foot of the mast; three of the figures were painted from life—Corréard, Savigny and Lavillette. Jamar posed nude for the dead youth shown in the foreground about to slip into the sea, and was also the model for two other figures. Much later, Delacroix—who would become the standard-bearer of French Romanticism after Géricault's death—wrote, "Géricault allowed me to see his Raft of Medusa while he was still working on it. It made so tremendous an impression on me that when I came out of the studio I started running like a madman and did not stop till I reached my own room."Géricault, who was an abolitionist, hired a Haitian model named Joseph to paint at least two Black individuals on the raft. Most notably, Joseph served as a model for what is considered to be a representation of Jean Charles, a military officer waving a dark red handkerchief in hopes of being noticed by the passing ship. Influenced by an ancient Greek Classical sculpture titled Belvedere Torso and with his back turned toward the viewer, Joseph's silhouette is placed atop the pyramidal grouping of survivors in the composition's right half. In addition, a small rendering of Joseph's face, with his gaze directed toward the spectator, is placed within a group of three figures positioned between the wooden mast and the supporting rope on the mast's right-hand side.Géricault painted with small brushes and viscous oils, which allowed little time for reworking and were dry by the next morning. He kept his colours apart from each other: his palette consisted of vermilion, white, naples yellow, two different yellow ochres, two red ochres, raw sienna, light red, burnt sienna, crimson lake, Prussian blue, peach black, ivory black, Cassel earth and bitumen. Bitumen has a velvety, lustrous appearance when first painted, but over a period of time discolours to a black treacle, while contracting and thus creating a wrinkled surface, which cannot be renovated. As a result of this, details in large areas of the work can hardly be discerned today.Géricault drew an outline sketch of the composition onto the canvas. He then posed models one at a time, completing each figure before moving onto the next, as opposed to the more usual method of working over the whole composition. The concentration in this way on individual elements gave the work both a "shocking physicality" and a sense of deliberate theatricality—which some critics consider an adverse effect. Over 30 years after the completion of the work, his friend Montfort recalled:[Géricault's method] astonished me as much as his intense industry. He painted directly on the white canvas, without rough sketch or any preparation of any sort, except for the firmly traced contours, and yet the solidity of the work was none the worse for it. I was struck by the keen attention with which he examined the model before touching brush to canvas. He seemed to proceed slowly, when in reality he executed very rapidly, placing one touch after the other in its place, rarely having to go over his work more than once. There was very little perceptible movement of his body or arms. His expression was perfectly calm ...Working with little distraction, the artist completed the painting in eight months; the project as a whole took 18 months.

File:The Medusa shown at the Louvre, in color.jpg

Detail of the crew member waving his handkerchief to draw the ship's attention

Géricault's ''Study for "The Raft of the Medusa"'', pen and brown ink, 17.6 cm × 24.5 cm, [[Palais des Beaux-Arts de Lille

1818-19}}, Getty Center. Joseph served as model for at least two Black individuals in the final version of the artist's representation of Medusa's raft.

Sailors of the ''Méduse'' detained by the British after the sinking. They were returned to France afterwards.{{sfn

File:Portrait Study by Théodore Géricault, c. 1818-19, Getty Center.JPG

File:Pierre-Paul Prud'hon - Justice and Divine Vengeance Pursuing Crime.JPG

File:Raft-of-the-Medusa-copy par Pierre-Désiré Guillemet et Étienne Antoine Eugène Ronjat.jpg

Louis Nicolas Philippe Auguste de Forbin

The main 16 colours used for the painting<ref name=christiansen/>

Bonaparte Visiting the Plague-Victims of Jaffa

Nicolas Sebastien Maillot's ''Raft of the Medusa shown in Salon Carré of the Louvre'', 1831, [[Louvre

Plan of the ''Medusa'''s raft at the moment of its crew's rescue<ref>Grigsby, Darcy Grimaldo. ''Extremities: Painting Empire in Post-Revolutionary France''. [[Yale University Press

Diagram showing the outline of the two pyramidal structures that form the basis of the work. The position of the Argus rescue vessel is indicated by the yellow dot.

In 1820, Géricault successfully exhibited the painting in the [[Egyptian Hall

École nationale supérieure d'arts et métiers

alt=darkly shaded painting of two winged angels chasing man who runs away from a fallen, naked body

File:Théodore Géricault - Le Radeau de la Méduse esquisse (salon de 1819).jpg

The Defeat of the Floating Batteries at Gibraltar, September 1782

Copy of the work by [[Pierre-Désiré Guillemet

File:Raft of Méduse-Alexandre Corréard-IMG 4788-cropped.JPG

''Portrait Study of Joseph'', oil on canvas painting by Théodore Géricault, {{Circa

Bonaparte Visiting the Plague Victims of Jaffa

Category:Paintings in the Louvre by French artists

File:Egyptian Hall, Piccadilly 1815 edited.jpg

Detail from the lower left corner of the canvas showing two dying figures

''Cannibalism on the Raft of the Medusa'', crayon, ink wash, and gouache on paper, 28 cm × 38 cm, [[Louvre

Category:Paintings by Théodore Géricault

File:Théodore Géricault "The raft of the Medusa".jpg

:File:Ugolino and his Sons Starving to Death in the Tower 1806 1a.jpg


The Raft of the Medusa

Prompt: Describe the characteristics of the Final work in The Raft of the Medusa's Execution.

Géricault, who had just been forced to break off a painful affair with his aunt, shaved his head and from November 1818 to July 1819 lived a disciplined monastic existence in his studio in the Faubourg du Roule, being brought meals by his concierge and only occasionally spending an evening out. He and his 18-year-old assistant, Louis-Alexis Jamar, slept in a small room adjacent to the studio; occasionally there were arguments and on one occasion Jamar walked off; after two days Géricault persuaded him to return. In his orderly studio, the artist worked in a methodical fashion in complete silence and found that even the noise of a mouse was sufficient to break his concentration.He used friends as models, most notably the painter Eugène Delacroix (1798–1863), who modelled for the figure in the foreground with face turned downward and one arm outstretched. Two of the raft's survivors are seen in shadow at the foot of the mast; three of the figures were painted from life—Corréard, Savigny and Lavillette. Jamar posed nude for the dead youth shown in the foreground about to slip into the sea, and was also the model for two other figures. Much later, Delacroix—who would become the standard-bearer of French Romanticism after Géricault's death—wrote, "Géricault allowed me to see his Raft of Medusa while he was still working on it. It made so tremendous an impression on me that when I came out of the studio I started running like a madman and did not stop till I reached my own room."Géricault, who was an abolitionist, hired a Haitian model named Joseph to paint at least two Black individuals on the raft. Most notably, Joseph served as a model for what is considered to be a representation of Jean Charles, a military officer waving a dark red handkerchief in hopes of being noticed by the passing ship. Influenced by an ancient Greek Classical sculpture titled Belvedere Torso and with his back turned toward the viewer, Joseph's silhouette is placed atop the pyramidal grouping of survivors in the composition's right half. In addition, a small rendering of Joseph's face, with his gaze directed toward the spectator, is placed within a group of three figures positioned between the wooden mast and the supporting rope on the mast's right-hand side.Géricault painted with small brushes and viscous oils, which allowed little time for reworking and were dry by the next morning. He kept his colours apart from each other: his palette consisted of vermilion, white, naples yellow, two different yellow ochres, two red ochres, raw sienna, light red, burnt sienna, crimson lake, Prussian blue, peach black, ivory black, Cassel earth and bitumen. Bitumen has a velvety, lustrous appearance when first painted, but over a period of time discolours to a black treacle, while contracting and thus creating a wrinkled surface, which cannot be renovated. As a result of this, details in large areas of the work can hardly be discerned today.Géricault drew an outline sketch of the composition onto the canvas. He then posed models one at a time, completing each figure before moving onto the next, as opposed to the more usual method of working over the whole composition. The concentration in this way on individual elements gave the work both a "shocking physicality" and a sense of deliberate theatricality—which some critics consider an adverse effect. Over 30 years after the completion of the work, his friend Montfort recalled:[Géricault's method] astonished me as much as his intense industry. He painted directly on the white canvas, without rough sketch or any preparation of any sort, except for the firmly traced contours, and yet the solidity of the work was none the worse for it. I was struck by the keen attention with which he examined the model before touching brush to canvas. He seemed to proceed slowly, when in reality he executed very rapidly, placing one touch after the other in its place, rarely having to go over his work more than once. There was very little perceptible movement of his body or arms. His expression was perfectly calm ...Working with little distraction, the artist completed the painting in eight months; the project as a whole took 18 months.

File:The Medusa shown at the Louvre, in color.jpg

Detail of the crew member waving his handkerchief to draw the ship's attention

Géricault's ''Study for "The Raft of the Medusa"'', pen and brown ink, 17.6 cm × 24.5 cm, [[Palais des Beaux-Arts de Lille

1818-19}}, Getty Center. Joseph served as model for at least two Black individuals in the final version of the artist's representation of Medusa's raft.

Sailors of the ''Méduse'' detained by the British after the sinking. They were returned to France afterwards.{{sfn

File:Portrait Study by Théodore Géricault, c. 1818-19, Getty Center.JPG

File:Pierre-Paul Prud'hon - Justice and Divine Vengeance Pursuing Crime.JPG

File:Raft-of-the-Medusa-copy par Pierre-Désiré Guillemet et Étienne Antoine Eugène Ronjat.jpg

Louis Nicolas Philippe Auguste de Forbin

The main 16 colours used for the painting<ref name=christiansen/>

Bonaparte Visiting the Plague-Victims of Jaffa

Nicolas Sebastien Maillot's ''Raft of the Medusa shown in Salon Carré of the Louvre'', 1831, [[Louvre

Plan of the ''Medusa'''s raft at the moment of its crew's rescue<ref>Grigsby, Darcy Grimaldo. ''Extremities: Painting Empire in Post-Revolutionary France''. [[Yale University Press

Diagram showing the outline of the two pyramidal structures that form the basis of the work. The position of the Argus rescue vessel is indicated by the yellow dot.

In 1820, Géricault successfully exhibited the painting in the [[Egyptian Hall

École nationale supérieure d'arts et métiers

alt=darkly shaded painting of two winged angels chasing man who runs away from a fallen, naked body

File:Théodore Géricault - Le Radeau de la Méduse esquisse (salon de 1819).jpg

The Defeat of the Floating Batteries at Gibraltar, September 1782

Copy of the work by [[Pierre-Désiré Guillemet

File:Raft of Méduse-Alexandre Corréard-IMG 4788-cropped.JPG

''Portrait Study of Joseph'', oil on canvas painting by Théodore Géricault, {{Circa

Bonaparte Visiting the Plague Victims of Jaffa

Category:Paintings in the Louvre by French artists

File:Egyptian Hall, Piccadilly 1815 edited.jpg

Detail from the lower left corner of the canvas showing two dying figures

''Cannibalism on the Raft of the Medusa'', crayon, ink wash, and gouache on paper, 28 cm × 38 cm, [[Louvre

Category:Paintings by Théodore Géricault

File:Théodore Géricault "The raft of the Medusa".jpg

:File:Ugolino and his Sons Starving to Death in the Tower 1806 1a.jpg