preview

Raft Of The Medusa Essay

Decent Essays

when Géricault was 27 years old, painted The Raft of the Medusa. Which is considered a classic of the Romantic Movement.In its brutality, realism, and raw emotion it captures the essence of a historic event that shocked the French public. The story behind the painting is as devastating as shown on the canvas.The Medusa was a French naval vessel that was on course off the coast of Africa before running aground on a sandbar near Mauritania around July 1816. After few days of trying to pry the ship free, the crew and passengers took to the ship's six small lifeboats. There was a problem, there were 400 people on board, while the boats only had the capacity to carry approximately 250. As a result, 146 men and one woman were loaded onto a wooden

Get Access