Six studies for Corréard and Savigny in the "Raft of the Medusa"
before 1818
Medium
Black chalk
Dimensions
10 1/16 x 15 9/16 in. (25.6 x 39.6 cm)
Classification
Drawings
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Bequest of Walter C. Baker, 1971
Accession Number
1972.118.216
Tags
Art Historical Context
Théodore Géricault *Six Studies for Corréard andigny in the "R of the Medusa"* a fascinating glimpse into the artist's preparatory process for one of art history's most iconic works. Created before 1818 in black chalk, these intimate drawings (10 1/16 x 15 9/16 in.) profile portraits of two key survivors—Pierre-Alexandre Corréard Alexandre Savigny—from the tragic 1816 shipwreck of the French frigateMéduse*. Géricault, a leading figure in Romanticism, obsessively studied real-life models to infuse his monumental painting with raw human emotion and realism. The *Raft of the Medusa* scandalized ...
About the Artist
Théodore Gericault · 1791–1824
Théodore Géricault, born Jean-Louis André Théodore Géricault on September 26, 1791, in Rouen, France, into a prosperous family—his father a lawyer turned tobacco merchant and his mother from a line of growers—moved to Paris around 1797. Displaying early artistic promise, recognized by painter Jean-Louis Laneuville, he began formal training in 1808 under Carle Vernet, mastering English sporting art...