Beautiful folio size antique photogravure print from the picture by Theodore Gericault (click thumbnails above for larger size image).
Printed on heavyweight cream stock. Plate mark present. Reverse side is blank.
It's hard to appreciate the stunning detail and clarity of this print until you see it in person.
Based on the wreck of the frigate Medusa, which on June 17, 1816, set out for St. Louis, Senegal, to carry the governor and many members of families of that colony. The raft that was constructed to hold one hundred and nineteen of the wrecked passengers was deserted by the boats which were to have towed it, and after twelve days of agony fifteen only survived and were at last, with their dead and dying, picked up by the Argos. The moment chosen by Gericault was when, in the distance, a sail is seen far against the horizon.
The loosely put together raft fills almost the whole of the canvas. Beyond it and behind it huge waves pitch mountain-high against the sky. Mounted on a barrel on the forward part of the raft, an almost nude negro is waving a signal to the tiny speck that shows dimly against the lighter horizon. He is supported by a man standing below, grasping his legs. Leaning against the barrel, another also waves a cloth. A number by the sail still have enough life to raise themselves with some degree of vigour and one man stretches out his arm excitedly toward the distance while he is apparently encouraging his companions beside him. A few others in the centre drag themselves weakly to their knees, their failing strength making a last desperate attempt to revive. At their feet lie others, dead, or too unconscious to notice the new hope of their companions. A father sits in the stern in an anguish beyond words or sight to disperse, holding against him the lifeless body of his son. In front, caught by his legs, a figure is thrown backward into the sea, the upper part covered with a drapery. It is only in its intensity of dramatic action, its grandly composed masses, its fine individual rendering of form, face and expression, in its appeal to the emotions, in a word, that it is so great. Gericault had so strong a sense of the limitations and requirements of art that frightful as the scene is, it is not repulsive. The approaching vessel has taken away from the stagnant despair and the ray of hope thus thrown upon the scene makes it possible to look at the picture without too great horror.
The painting was not well received and it found no purchaser. Gericault then took it with him to England where it created a great sensation, and brought him a good deal of money.
Title: The Medusa's Raft
Publication: Great Masters in the Louvre Gallery
Publication Year: 1899-1900
Publisher: D. Appleton & Goupil & Co. (New York & Paris)
Approximate Page Size (in inches): 16¾ x 12½
Approximate Image Size (in inches): 13 x 8¾
Condition: EX. Very clean.
