Between 1818 and 1819 Théodore Géricault (1791–1824) painted ‘The Raft of the Medusa’ (Figure 1). This was painted in response to a political scandal, and it had a huge effect upon the political environment of the time. What makes the making of this painting notable is that it was probably the first example of systematic modern research methodology being applied to a creative work. The entire process of making the painting took 18 months, 10 of which was engaged in research.

Figure 1. The Raft of the Medusa’, 1818–1819, Théodore Géricault

The story

The captain of the French Royal Navy frigate Medusa had received his commission for political reasons, and was an inept sailor with poor command of his craft. As a result of his incompetence the ship ran aground off the coast of Mauritania. The ship was a complete write-off, but sank slowly enough for there to be time to make a huge raft. Onto this raft 151 of the lower-ranking survivors were placed, the others being given refuge on one of the ship’s long boats. On these boats most of the food and water was located. The raft, having no independent means of locomotion, was towed behind the boats. Can you guess what happened?

After one day the raft was cut free, its occupants left to fend for themselves. Of those 151 people, only 15 survived. The rest perished through fighting, starvation, cannibalism and suicide. When the news reached France there was fury. It did not take long for the general public to make a connection between this event and the rampant nepotism and incompetence of contemporary France.

Also of compelling interest was the extreme story of survival told by those who lived. Stories that involved murder, cannibalism, madness and suicide.

The Research

Géricault lived at a time when science was gaining traction in art and life. This was a time when the book 'The principles of harmony and contrast of colours', by the scientist Michel Eugène Chevreul's was having a great impact upon the use of colour in art. Géricault's approach to visual research grew out of this new interest in science amongst artists. This research included:

Interviewing two of the survivors (Henri Savigny, a surgeon, and Alexandre Corréard, an engineer)
Drawing diagrams of the raft
Constructing an accurately scaled model of the raft
Painting and drawing corpses (acquired from a hospital)
Going to the coast city of Le Havre to study the sea and sky

Of course, all creative outcomes have a genealogy. In other words, new things come from old things [2]. Géricault was very influenced by Michelangelo's (1475-1564) depiction of hell in 'The Last Judgement' (Figure 2) which is part of the Cistine Chapel ceiling (1508-1512). He said: 'Michelangelo sent shivers up my spine, these lost souls destroying each other inevitably conjure up the tragic grandeur of the Sistine Chapel'.

Figure 2. Michelangelo's depiction of hell in 'The Last Judgement

He also made many drawings. Some were studies, in which he examined the particulars of appearance (Figure 3) and some were experiments, which he used to decide which particular aspect of the tragedy to depict (Figure 4), or to finalize the composition experiment (Figure 5).

Figure 3. A preparatory study of the dying figure at the bottom left (the model was the artist Delacroix, who was a friend of his)

Figure 4. A drawing experiment depicting the rescue of the survivors...

Figure 5. A drawing experiment depicting a detail of a larger composition

He painted large studies of the final painting (Figure 6). and detailed studies (Figure 7).

Figure 6. A nearly full-size preparatory painting

Figure 7. A painted study of a detail

Some of the preparation was psychological. To understand the horror of the subject matter, he painted the severed heads and limbs of executed criminals (Figures 8 and 9).

Figure 8. Severed limbs

Figure 9. Severed heads

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