Romanticism: Gericault's Raft of the Medusa

Romanticism in FranceGéricault’s Raft of the Medusa

Eugene Delacroix,

Massacre at Chios, 1824

Louvre

In 1824 Eugene Delacroix submitted a monumental

canvas to the Salon representing the Massacre at

Chios

Eugene Delacroix, Massacre at Chios, 1824

Louvre

It was different from his earlier painting of the Death of

Sardanapalus because it represented a contemporary

event, rather than a story from ancient history


Louvre

And it was different from the Classically-inspired

subjects that were normally shown at the annual Salon,

because it showed “victims” of a tragedy rather than

“heroes” in control of their own destiny


Louvre

The painting depicts Greek families awaiting death or

slavery during the Greek War of Independence from

the Ottoman Turkish Empire

On the lower right, a small child struggles to suckle the breast of his dead mother,

while on older emaciated woman looks off into the distance for some sign of hope

In the center, a wounded Greek man leans against his wife, who leans on his shoulder

in exhaustian

Meanwhile, a Turkish soldier on horseback attacks two women with his sword, while a

scene of slaughter takes place in the background

The exotic setting and sadistically violent theme recalls Delacroix’s earlier Death of

Sardanapalus, but the story is set in the “here and now” rather than an imagined past

It is like the news photographs that we see today of tragic events unfolding across the

globe

A man with the body of his infant after the child was pulled from the rubble of destroyed buildings in Aleppo in July. CreditAmeer Alhalbi/Agence France-Presse

— Getty Images


Louvre

As Dr. Bryan Zygmont writes, this “ripped from the

headlines” approach attracted many Romantic artists,

who wanted to explore subjects that were more

relevant to modern times

Théodore Géricault’s Raft of the Medusa is an example of this “ripped from the

headlines” approach

Theodore Géricault, Raft of the Medusa, 1818-1819

16’ x 23’ Louvre

Painted on a grand scale (16 feet tall, by 23 feet wide), The painting depicts an

event that occurred on July 2 1816, and was widely reported in the press

http://www.louvre.fr/llv/oeuvres/detail_notice_popup.jsp?CONTENT<>cnt_id=10134198673236500&CURRENT_LLV_NOTICE<>cnt_id=10134198673236500&FOLDER<>folder_id=9852723696500815&bmLocale=en



A French ship on its way to Senegal ran aground, largely as a result of the ship’s

commander who was a Royal appointee and was incompetent




There were not enough lifeboats to accommodate all the passengers, so the

captain and his men built a makeshift raft which they towed behind the lifeboats --

but once they set out, the Captain ordered that the rope be cut, and the

passengers on the raft (150 people) were set adrift




For 10 days they endured storms and starvation, and reverted to the most primitive

means of survival: many died of starvation, some were murdered, and some were

killed by sharks; there were even reports of cannibalism, as the desparate victims

struggled to alive; in the end, only 15 of the original 150 people survived




Gericault portrays the dramatic moment when a rescue ship is spotted on the

horizon




The figures are arranged in a pyramid, and they surge in unison upwards towards

this tiny beacon of hope




At the apex of the pyramid is an African slave waving a tattered flag; Géricault was

a supporter of the Abolitionist Movement, and his prominent placement of a black

skinned figure in the picture signaled his political views on the subject




The raft is crowded with dead and decaying bodies, rendered with

remarkable realism


To prepare for the painting Géricault consulted a published account written by two

survivors, and he even built a makeshift raft in his studio, based on a published

illustration

He visited the local morgue to study cadavers and brought body parts home to

study them as they decayed



When the work was exhibited at the Salon of 1819 it met with a mixture of praise

and criticism


Painted on the scale of “history painting” the picture did not meet expectations of

what a history painting was supposed to look like



It didn’t represent a story from the mythology, or the bible, or the Classical past, but

instead represented a contemporary event that everybody had read about




And it did not present virtuous heroes to look up to, but instead confronted viewers

with the hideous facts of human barbarity – from the Captain who heartlessly

abandoned his duties, to the desperate passengers who resorted to cannibalism

for survival




Critics were also put off by the picture’s realism; while the magnificently

muscled figures recall the ideal bodies of Michelangelo, the gruesome

depiction of lividly tinted corpses was shocking to audiences accustomed

to a more refined style of idealism




As one critic complained: "Monsieur Géricault seems mistaken. The goal

of painting is to speak to the soul and the eyes, not to repel."




Like Delacroix’s Death of Sardanapalus, Gericault’s painting was the opposite of

Neoclassicism




Rather than celebrating human reason, virtue, and nobility, this painting was a

passionate indictment of social injustice, and of man’s inhumanity to man




In Romantic paintings, the Neoclassical “hero” who controls his destiny has been

replaced with tragic “victims” of forces that are beyond human control


Romanticism: Gericault's Raft of the Medusa

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