“The Raft of the Medusa”
Wow, do I have a story for you today! I heard about this shipwreck tragedy in two books I’ve recently read, In the Heart of the Sea by Nathaniel Philbrick, and The Wager, by David Grann. It is a wild and horrible story.
“The Raft of the Medusa” is an oil on canvas painting by the French Romantic artist, Théodore Géricault, from 1818 to 1819. In his most famous piece, Géricault depicts a romanticized version of the aftermath of the shipwreck of Méduse, a French naval frigate, that ended in disaster in 1816.
On July 2, 1816, the Méduse ran aground just off the coast of Mauritania just west of Africa. It was captained by Viscount Hugues Duroy de Chaumereys, a French royalist, who had not sailed in 20 years and lacked any real experience. The ship had gone 100 miles off course and ran aground a sandbar.
Efforts to remove the ship from the sandbar failed. It was decided that the crew would set off on the six boats stored on the ship. Only 250 people of the 400 could fit in the boats, so the crew hastily constructed a raft to carry the remainder of the people from the ship. The raft was 66 feet long by 23 feet wide.
On July 5, the boats set off with the raft in tow. The people aboard the raft were given a bag of biscuits which were eaten on the first day, two casks of water that ended up overboard during fighting, and six casks of wine. The raft greatly slowed the progress of the ships, and after just a few miles, the captain decided to cut the raft loose.
The occupants of the raft had no means of navigation. After they were cut from the boats, the occupants quickly turned violent. During the first night, 20 people died. A storm washed more people overboard. People drunk on wine became violent, killing others. After four days, some resorted to cannibalism. After eight days, the old and sick were thrown overboard and just 15 of the 147 people remained alive on the raft. The raft was asea for 13 days before it was found and rescued by the Argus.
In 1817, two of the survivors wrote a story of the event, Shipwreck of the frigate the Medusa. The incompetence of the captain of the Méduse became globally known and an embarrassment to the country of France. He was court-martialed in 1817 and found guilty of incompetence and of abandoning his crew.
After this tragedy, France changed its methods of awarding military positions, which were now appointed based on merit.
Géricault was fascinated by the story of the Méduse. To prepare for this large-scale painting, he interviewed the two survivors of the raft who had published their account. He made accurate small-scale models of the raft and the mental state of the people and visited morgues and hospitals to study the dead and dying. Géricault made several preparatory sketches, several of which are in the collections of the Louvre Museum.
Géricault depicts the very end of the saga of the Méduse, at the moment just before the 15 remaining survivors were rescued. After spotting the Argus and waving her down, the Argus sailed out of sight. One of the survivors said, “From the delirium of joy, we fell into profound despondency and grief”. Thankfully, the Argus returned two hours later to rescue the people aboard the raft. The raft has a mix of the dead and the living. Géricault shows the anguish and despair through the facial expressions and poses of the survivors.
In 1819, the painting was exhibited at the annual Paris Salon and, though it was awarded a gold medal, received conflicted reviews for the political undertones. In 1820, Géricault toured the painting through England, where it was a success.
“The Raft of the Medusa” is currently on display at the Louvre Museum in Paris, France.
For more on Théodore Géricault, please visit his short biography here.
You can find more artists to learn about here.
