Le Radeau de La Méduse (the raft of the medusa)
French Romantic artist (1798-1863) oil painting
Théodore Géricault (26 September 1791 - 26 January 1824) is an influential French painter and lithographer. The Raft of the Medusa is known for his most famous piece, which is an oil painting on canvas completed during 1818 to 1819, when he was in the age of 27. The painting depicts the scene of the aftermath when a shipwreck occured, this is referred to a real event happened on the 5th of July 1816 in Mauritania.
The Raft of the Medusa was done in an over life size at 491 cm × 761 cm.
Géricault first started by learning the tradition of English sporting art by Carle Vernet and classical figure composition by Pierre-Narcisse Guerin in the age of 15, which is when he developed a great facility in capturing animal movement, which is shown in The Raft of the Medusa. He then chose to study at the Louvre afterward. During the time at the Louvre he copied paintings by artists such as rembrandt, Titian, Rubens and Velazquez. He was a lot self-taught despite the fact he spent 3 years in the studio. …show more content…
This issue had raised some political implications as the captain gained his position due to some connections to the government, which then became an international