The Raft of the Medusa
The Raft of the Medusa
In 1819, the French painter, Theodore Gerricault, created a sensation in Parisian art circles and high-society when he unveiled a huge and impressive canvas entitled "Scene of Shipwreck." Not only is the painting gigantic (16 ft high and almost 24 ft wide), but is also quietly horrifying. A group men on crowded fat are making an attempt to get a faraway ship to notice them. Survival looks almost impossible, and but the desperate situation does not even begin to suggest the abject horror which overtook the people of the raft. The real story which inspired the painting had taken place in 1816 . . . In Paris of that year, where the French monarchy was back in powerwith the "permission" of the English, who had recently, through the efforts of Wellington, ended Napoleon's reign at Waterloo. In a tangle of diplomatic details, Britain attempted to make friends with the re-installed French king, and offered him a port city in colonial Africaa settlement called St. Louis in Senegal on the African west coast. St. Louis had established itself a viable trading post and was strategically located for ships to take pause during long voyages around the Cape of Good Hope
The plan was in place for the French to send four ships filled with soldiers and other friends of the throne to St. Louis along with its new Governor. The man in charge of the expedition was a man named Hugues Duroy de Chaumereys. As it turned out, he was not a very good choice for the jobfor a lot reasons. He hadn't been to sea in more than twenty years, had never commanded an entire ship, and some reports even claimed he was not a seaman at all, but a land-based customs agent. The only credential that qualified him for the assignment was a good, however: he was a friend of the newly re-instated king.
Whether wise or brave or just uninformed, de Chaumereys, back in 1795, had sided against the French revolutionaries. He was living in exile in England, but maneuvered
In 1819, the French painter, Theodore Gerricault, created a sensation in Parisian art circles and high-society when he unveiled a huge and impressive canvas entitled "Scene of Shipwreck." Not only is the painting gigantic (16 ft high and almost 24 ft wide), but is also quietly horrifying. A group men on crowded fat are making an attempt to get a faraway ship to notice them. Survival looks almost impossible, and but the desperate situation does not even begin to suggest the abject horror which overtook the people of the raft. The real story which inspired the painting had taken place in 1816 . . . In Paris of that year, where the French monarchy was back in powerwith the "permission" of the English, who had recently, through the efforts of Wellington, ended Napoleon's reign at Waterloo. In a tangle of diplomatic details, Britain attempted to make friends with the re-installed French king, and offered him a port city in colonial Africaa settlement called St. Louis in Senegal on the African west coast. St. Louis had established itself a viable trading post and was strategically located for ships to take pause during long voyages around the Cape of Good Hope
The plan was in place for the French to send four ships filled with soldiers and other friends of the throne to St. Louis along with its new Governor. The man in charge of the expedition was a man named Hugues Duroy de Chaumereys. As it turned out, he was not a very good choice for the jobfor a lot reasons. He hadn't been to sea in more than twenty years, had never commanded an entire ship, and some reports even claimed he was not a seaman at all, but a land-based customs agent. The only credential that qualified him for the assignment was a good, however: he was a friend of the newly re-instated king.
Whether wise or brave or just uninformed, de Chaumereys, back in 1795, had sided against the French revolutionaries. He was living in exile in England, but maneuvered