The Romantic movement represented a key break from the elegant and orderly schools of art that dominated Europe before the 19th century. While the break did not occur overnight, it did receive a push from young artists like the French painter Theodore Gericault.

Jean-Louis Andre Theodore Gericault was born in Rouen, France, in 1791. After studying under such eminent tutors as Carle Vernet and Pierre-Narcisse Guerin, he studied at the Louvre from 1810 to 1815. There, Gericault honed his craft by copying works by such notables as Velazquez and Rembrandt. His study of horses at Versailles led to his first successful exhibition at the Paris Salon in 1812, where The Charging Chasseur earned praise and attention for its lack of classical design and its youthful energy. When his second work failed to earn the same acclaim, Gericault entered military service for a time, where he was posted to the Versailles garrison and produced several lithographs. Around 1819, he reemerged with controversy at the Salon during the exhibition of his latest painting, The Raft of the Medusa. Gericault continued to paint with class and ambition, choosing unappreciated subjects like patients at an insane asylum and African slaves, until he died in 1824.

Despite his death at age 32, Theodore Gericault is considered to be one of the first Romantic artists. He found the Neoclassical school of art lacking during his studies at the Louvre. Instead, Gericault painted under the influence of established artists like Rembrandt and Michelangelo, but his themes and subjects were of his own choosing. He started with equine anatomy and continued to paint out human suffering with a realistic use of lighting.

The Raft of the Medusa is perhaps the best known of Gericault's works. This larger-than-life masterpiece depicts the shipwreck of a French frigate called the Méduse, which ran aground in Mauritania in 1816. Though the captain was at fault, his appointment by King Louis VIII reflected poorly on the restored French monarchy. This scandal brought the event to Gericault's attention, who proceeded to paint out the scene of 15 poor souls on a crude raft struggling for survival. What shocked and impressed the Paris Salon was the grand and detailed scale of human suffering shown in Gericault's painting. Instead of portraying the survivors heroically as a Neoclassical painter would, Gericault shows the brutality of being caught on the high seas, with graphic nudity and desperate hands reaching out to signal a ship for rescue. The stark realism has since influenced over great artists and paintings, including Eugene Delacroix and his iconic work Liberty Leading the People.

To see more paintings and lithographs by Theodore Gericault, you can visit the Louvre in Paris, the Walters Art Museum in Baltimore, and the Musée Bonnat in Aquitaine.

Image by KCC246F on Flickr