{"id":191,"date":"2021-10-20T05:01:14","date_gmt":"2021-10-20T05:01:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/eportfolios.capilanou.ca\/hiuyeung\/?p=191"},"modified":"2021-10-24T07:00:40","modified_gmt":"2021-10-24T07:00:40","slug":"theodore-gericault-the-man-who-came-to-define-the-dramatic-era-of-romaticism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/eportfolios.capilanou.ca\/hiuyeung\/2021\/10\/20\/theodore-gericault-the-man-who-came-to-define-the-dramatic-era-of-romaticism\/","title":{"rendered":"Theodore Gericault: The Man Who Came to Define the Dramatic Era of Romaticism"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Theodore Gericault, the pioneer and embodiment of the romantic movement, had humble beginnings in the city of Rouen, France. Learning from French painter Carle Vernet, Gericault first studied the style of English sporting art, which is the painting of animals in the setting of popular sports of the century. He also gained influences from Peter Paul Rubens and even Michelangelo later on during his time in Florence and Rome. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Horsewoman <\/strong>Through Carle Vernet’s teachings, Gericault predominantly focused on painting horses. I admire his loose, yet calculated brushwork on the ground and mountains while giving the horse such detail and structure, clearly exhibiting his plethora of knowledge on the subject.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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The Charging Chasseur <\/strong>The colourful influences of the Baroque master Peter Paul Rubens are prominent in Gericault’s earlier works. This was also shown in the Paris salon of 1812, being one of his first major paintings.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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The Epitome of Romanticism <\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Gericault’s most defining work, The Raft of Medusa, captures a shameful and dark history of the French in the 19th century. This painting depicts the aftermath of an unqualified sailor who ran the M\u00e9duse, <\/em>a French naval ship, aground. Escaping on lifeboats, the captain and the upper class left 147 people abandoned on a makeshift raft to drift in the open sea for 13 days. The desperate fight for survival resulted in violence, murder, and even cannibalism, with only 15 people remaining when the raft was found and rescued.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The Raft of Medusa <\/strong>The countless studies, sketches, and interviews Gericault conducted explain the striking authenticity and realness of this painting. Gericault observed dead and rotting body parts in morgues, hospitals, and lunatic asylums to emote the atmosphere of the painting through the accuracy of the lifeless survivors.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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There are so many fascinating things to point out about this painting, but what stood out to me the most was the portrayal of the only black survivor, Jean Charles, as the saviour of the raft. This message of the unseen and overlooked becoming the hero was an extremely brave choice, as the French would not abolish slavery for another 30 years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Head of a Guillotined Man<\/strong> An example of one of Gericault’s many studies of corpses, rotting flesh, and in this case, a severed head.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Inspiration and Comparison<\/strong> Although he may not have seen it, Gericault’s influences in the coming era were evident. Liberty Leading the People by Eugene Delacroix was directly inspired by The Raft of Medusa, most significantly in its pyramidical composition and heavy underlying message<\/em>.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Later Life and Legacy<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Despite the current success of the painting, The Raft of Medusa was heavily criticized and did not sell during its display at the Paris salon of 1819. His confusing love life, reoccurring mental illness, and dissatisfaction with his achievements led to an unfortunate death at the early age of 32. One can only wonder if Gericault would finally be content with his accomplishments if he had only seen his painting bought and displayed by the Louvre, eventually becoming the painting only second in popularity to the Mona Lisa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Sources<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/biography\/Theodore-Gericault<\/a>
https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Th\u00e9odore_G\u00e9ricault<\/a>
https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/The_Charging_Chasseur<\/a>
https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=yUq9qMm9NtI&t=251s<\/a>
https:\/\/www.metmuseum.org\/art\/collection\/search\/438113
<\/a>https:\/\/eclecticlight.co\/2016\/03\/14\/the-story-in-paintings-gericaults-raft-of-the-medusa\/<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Theodore Gericault, the pioneer and embodiment of the romantic movement, had humble beginnings in the city of Rouen, France. Learning from French painter Carle Vernet, Gericault first studied the style of English sporting art, which is the painting of animals in the setting of popular sports of the century. He also gained influences from Peter… Continue reading Theodore Gericault: The Man Who Came to Define the Dramatic Era of Romaticism<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13119,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-191","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-3"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/eportfolios.capilanou.ca\/hiuyeung\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/191","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/eportfolios.capilanou.ca\/hiuyeung\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/eportfolios.capilanou.ca\/hiuyeung\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eportfolios.capilanou.ca\/hiuyeung\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/13119"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eportfolios.capilanou.ca\/hiuyeung\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=191"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/eportfolios.capilanou.ca\/hiuyeung\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/191\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":221,"href":"https:\/\/eportfolios.capilanou.ca\/hiuyeung\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/191\/revisions\/221"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/eportfolios.capilanou.ca\/hiuyeung\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=191"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eportfolios.capilanou.ca\/hiuyeung\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=191"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eportfolios.capilanou.ca\/hiuyeung\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=191"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}