The Medusa shipwreck, was a well known tragedy in early 19th century France, in which the captain of the ship, Hugues Duroy de Chaumareys, had left a large portion of his passengers and crew to die at sea. We will examine the 13 fateful days the survivors spent, reduced to cannibalism, murder and suicide. Discover both the history of the shipwreck and of Theodore Géricault’s over life size monumental painting of the tragedy. A work which stunned visitors to the French Salon of 1819. The painting gaining both praise and some degree of horror, from the Parisian public; while also defining a significant moment in the history of art, in the early decades of the nineteenth century.
- Albert Alhadeff, Théodore Géricault, Painting Black Bodies: Confrontations and Contradictions (Routledge: 2020)
- Lorenz Eitner, Géricault: His Life and Work (Orbis Publishing: 1983)
- Nina Athanassoglou-Kallmyer, Géricault (Phaedon Press: 2010)
- Jonathan Miles, Medusa: The Shipwreck, The Scandal, The Masterpiece (Pimlico: 2007)
- Wheelock Whitney, Géricault in Italy (Yale University Press: 1997)
- The Raft of the Medusa - The Shipwreck and its Scandal: Due to an inexperienced French naval officer, the French frigate Méduse, found itself shipwrecked off the coast of West Africa. Lacking enough lifeboats, a makeshift raft was assembled, on which 164 men and one woman were piled aboard. In the space of 13 days only 15 men were still alive. With no food, they had been reduced to cannibalism, murder and suicide. We will examine how the incident was both a public embarrassment for the just restored French Bourbon monarchy - following the defeat of Napoleon in 1815 - and a universally known tragedy within European society at the time.
- The Raft of the Medusa - The Painting: The nearly 5 by 7 metres Raft of the Medusa took Theodore Géricault eight months to produce. To create a faithfully descriptive account of the tragedy, Géricault went to extraordinary lengths in depicting the event. His depiction of the event was informed by meeting with two of the survivors. Making preparatory studies of the dead in the morgue of the Hospital Beaujon and even constructing an accurate full scale replica of the raft, from which to paint from. The completed painting would go on to be the star attraction at the Paris Salon of 1819. We will conclude, by examining the socially and politically loaded affirmation of the contemporary historian Jules Michelet, who would affirm that "Our whole society is aboard the raft of the Medusa".
By the end of this course, students should be able to:
- Visually analyse a work of art
- Understand how the tragedy of the raft of the Medusa influenced both politics and the arts of the early nineteenth century
- Perceive of the life and person of Théodore Géricault within the social, political, intellectual and artistic context of his time
