Raft of the Medusa
035a -'la Balsa de la Méduse'
"Ce tableau, de trés grande dimension (491 cm de hauteur et 716 cm de largeur), reprèsente un èpisode tragique de l´histoire de la marine française : le naufrage de la frègate Mèduse, qui s´èchoue sur un banc de sable au large des côtes de l´actuelle Mauritanie, le 2 juillet 1816. Au moins 147 personnes se maintiennent á la surface de l´eau sur un radeau de fortune et seuls quinze embarquent le 17 juillet á bord de L´Argus, un bateau venu les secourir. Cinq personnes meurent peu aprés leur arrivèe á Saint-Louis du Sènègal, aprés avoir endurè la faim, la dèshydratation, la folie et même le cannibalisme. L´èvènement devient un scandale d´ampleur internationale, en partie car un capitaine français servant la monarchie restaurèe depuis peu est jugè responsable du dèsastre, en raison de son incompètence."
"The Raft of the Medusa (French: Le Radeau de la Méduse [lə ʁado d(ə) la medyz]) – 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).[1] Completed when the artist was 27, the work has become an icon of French Romanticism. At 491 by 716 cm (16 ft 1 in by 23 ft 6 in),[2] 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. On 5 July 1816, at least 147 people were set adrift on a hurriedly constructed raft; all but 15 died in the 13 days before their rescue, and those who survived endured starvation and dehydration and practiced cannibalism (one custom of the sea). The event became an international scandal, in part because its cause was widely attributed to the incompetence of the French captain."
©: PD more info on: Wikipedia
tags: #Gericault
