Raft of the medusa6/19/2023 At 491 by 716 cm (16 ft 1 in by 23 ft 6 in), it is an over-life-size painting that depicts a moment from the aftermath of the wreck of the French naval frigate Méduse, which ran aground off the coast of today's Mauritania on 2 July 1816. Completed when the artist was 27, the work has become an icon of French Romanticism. The Raft of the Medusa ( French: Le Radeau de la Méduse ) – originally titled Scène de Naufrage ( Shipwreck Scene) – is an oil painting of 1818–19 by the French Romantic painter and lithographer Théodore Géricault (1791–1824). The British crowds flocked to see a crowning moment of French embarrassment. Couldn't he have painted a more cheerful shipwreck?" He eventually made money for the short remainder of his life (which was ended at 32 by tuberculosis) by touring the Raft of the Medusa in London and Dublin. One art critic at the time wrote, "This painting is too sad, there are too many dead people. ![]() The painting established Gericault's fame, but it never sold. Two of those sketches are on display in the Louvre. ![]() Gericault produced more than one hundred figure sketches to prepare for this work. The painter brought so many cadavers and severed body parts to his studio that his friends referred to it as the 'charnel house.' And his friends would know, considering they were often the models for the poor unfortunate souls writhing about the raft in the final painting. In addition to making a model of the raft with wax figures, he frequented morgues and dying folks in hospital to better understand human decomposition. At least Gericault decided to paint the stark subject matter with the respect and humanity it deserved. The two had a kid, whom Gericault never met. Rough segue, speculation persists that the interest in such morose subject matter arose from a failed relationship between Gericault and his reportedly hot aunt. Makes us think The Walking Dead prequel could have used some inspiration from the French Romantics. Other anecdotes include how the author personally threw weaker crew members over to conserve the small cache of wine and, once that ran out, washed the sun-dried manflesh down with urine. The book became a bestseller which the state sought to censor. One of the authors admitted to scooping out "brown and purple" human flesh from a dead mate. ![]() Others decided a nice preparation of human jerky sounded just right. With only soggy biscuits and wine onboard, some of the crew got drunk and went about hacking away at the craft to sink it (YOLO). Murder and suicide were rampant across the raft, with a single melee taking more than 60 lives in the first few days. Two refused and authored a book recounting their experiences. Upon return to France, the survivors were forced to sign an affidavit recusing the incompetent captain (and crown) from responsibility. With too few lifeboats, 150 crew members built a raft and went adrift for 13 days. ![]() The French naval vessel Medusa ran aground a sandbank en route to retake Senegal from Britain. The story behind Raft of the Medusa is full of determination in the face of incredible odds, showing how the human spirit can overcome any obstacle with just the right amount of cannibalism.
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