Romanticism: Gericault's Raft of the Medusa

Powerpoint lecture presentation

1. Romanticism in France Géricault’s Raft of the Medusa

2. Eugene Delacroix, Massacre at Chios , 1824 Louvre In 1824 Eugene Delacroix submitted a monumental canvas to the Salon representing the Massacre at Chios

3. 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

4. Eugene Delacroix, Massacre at Chios , 1824 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

5. Eugene Delacroix, Massacre at Chios , 1824 Louvre The painting depicts Greek families awaiting death or slavery during the Greek War of Independence from the Ottoman Turkish Empire

6. 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

7. In the center, a wounded Greek man leans against his wife, who leans on his shoulder in exhaustian

8. Meanwhile, a Turkish soldier on horseback attacks two women with his sword, while a scene of slaughter takes place in the background

9. 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

10. 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

11. Eugene Delacroix, Massacre at Chios , 1824 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

12. Théodore Géricault’s Raft of the Medusa is an example of this “ripped from the headlines” approach

13. Theodore G éricault , 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

14. Theodore G éricault , Raft of the Medusa , 1818 -1819 16’ x 23 ’ Louvre 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

15. Theodore G éricault , Raft of the Medusa , 1818 -1819 16’ x 23 ’ Louvre 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

16. Theodore G éricault , Raft of the Medusa , 1818 -1819 16’ x 23 ’ Louvre 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

17. Theodore G éricault , Raft of the Medusa , 1818 -1819 16’ x 23 ’ Louvre Gericault portrays the dramatic moment when a rescue ship is spotted on the horizon

18. Theodore G éricault , Raft of the Medusa , 1818 -1819 16’ x 23 ’ Louvre The figures are arranged in a pyramid, and they surge in unison upwards towards this tiny beacon of hope

19. Theodore G éricault , Raft of the Medusa , 1818 -1819 16’ x 23 ’ Louvre 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

20. Theodore G éricault , Raft of the Medusa , 1818 -1819 16’ x 23 ’ Louvre The raft is crowded with dead and decaying bodies, rendered with remarkable realism

21. 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

22. He visited the local morgue to study cadavers and brought body parts home to study them as they decayed

23. Theodore G éricault , Raft of the Medusa , 1818 -1819 16’ x 23 ’ Louvre When the work was exhibited at the Salon of 1819 it met with a mixture of praise and criticism

24. Painted on the scale of “history painting” the picture did not meet expectations of what a history painting was supposed to look like

25. Theodore G éricault , Raft of the Medusa , 1818 -1819 16’ x 23 ’ Louvre 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

26. Theodore G éricault , Raft of the Medusa , 1818 -1819 16’ x 23 ’ Louvre 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

27. Theodore G éricault , Raft of the Medusa , 1818 -1819 16’ x 23 ’ Louvre 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

28. Theodore G éricault , Raft of the Medusa , 1818 -1819 16’ x 23 ’ Louvre As one critic complained: "Monsieur Géricault seems mistaken. The goal of painting is to speak to the soul and the eyes, not to repel."

29. Theodore G éricault , Raft of the Medusa , 1818 -1819 16’ x 23 ’ Louvre Like Delacroix’s Death of Sardanapalus , Gericault’s painting was the opposite of Neoclassicism

30. Theodore G éricault , Raft of the Medusa , 1818 -1819 16’ x 23 ’ Louvre Rather than celebrating human reason, virtue, and nobility, this painting was a passionate indictment of social injustice, and of man’s inhumanity to man

31. Theodore G éricault , Raft of the Medusa , 1818 -1819 16’ x 23 ’ Louvre In Romantic paintings, the Neoclassical “hero” who controls his destiny has been replaced with tragic “victims” of forces that are beyond human control