The Raft Of The Medusa Analysis

"The Raft of the Medusa" is a famous 19th-century French painting that is considered an icon of the Romanticism time period. "The Raft of the Medusa" was based on an event whose human and political aspects fascinated Géricault. The painting was meant to portray a wreck of a French Royal Navy frigate named Medusa off the coast of Senegal in 1816 as the frigate was meant to colonize Senegal but Ancien Régime the captain who had not sailed for over twenty years ran the ship aground on a sandbank. The frigate had over 150 soldiers on board but did not have enough life boats to save them all thus forcing the remainder of the crew to build a raft. Géricault researched the story in detail and made numerous sketches before deciding on his final draft,