Alhadeff, Albert. The Raft of the Medusa: Gericault, Art, and Race. Munich and New York: Prestel, 2002
Théodore Géricault
Born: Rouen, 26 September 1791
Died: Paris, 26 January 1824
Nationality: French
Died: Paris, 26 January 1824
Nationality: French
Background:
provincial bourgeois family
Studies:
Lycée Imperial, Paris; with Carle Vernet (1808-9); with Pierre Guérin (1810); copies Old Master paintings at the Louvre (1811-15)
Career:
1808 – Géricault’s mother dies leaving him an annuity and financial independence
1812 –gold medal at Salon for Charging Chasseur (Officer of the Imperial Guard on Horseback)
1814 –restoration of the Bourbon monarchy; Géricault buys commission in Mousquetaires Gris (ceremonial royal calvary)
1815 - serves in the flight of Louis XVIII to Belgium during Napoleon’s brief restoration to power
1816 – fails to win Prix de Rome; visits Florence and Rome; frigate Medusa is shipwrecked
1818 – begins producing lithographs, including a series based on contemporary events
1819 –Raft of the Medusa causes sensation at Salon
Travels
Florence and Rome (1816-17); England (1820-21)
Important Artworks:
Charging Chasseur (Officer of the Imperial Guard on Horseback) (1812, Louvre, Paris)
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