LE RADEAU DE LA MEDUSE - GERICAULT
Le Radeau de la Méduse est un tableau de J.L.A. Théodore Géricault 1791 - 1824 (actuellement conservé au musée du Louvre, à Paris). Un décret spécial du 12 novembre 1824 autorisa l'État à acheter Le Radeau de la Méduse pour la somme de six mille cinq francs à Dedreux-Dorcy, l'ami le plus proche de Théodore Géricault. Le tableau fut peint entre 1817 et 1819.
L'histoire
En 1815, Louis XVIII se réinstalle sur le trône de France. Le Sénégal vient d'être restitué à la France par les Britanniques ; le 17 juin une flottille appareille de l'île d'Aix avec la frégate La Méduse sous les ordres du commandant Hugues Duroy de Chaumareys, à son bord le futur gouverneur du Sénégal, le colonel Julien Schmaltz, accompagné de sa femme Reine Schmaltz, de leur fille, de scientifiques, de soldats et de colons. L'inexpérience, les états de services sous l'ancien régime du commandant créent un climat de suspicion et de haine. Les tensions entre Chaumareys et notamment les lieutenants Espiaux et Reynaud, mais aussi l'équipage, provoquent l'échouage de La Méduse sur le banc d'Arguin, à 160 km de la côte mauritanienne, les opérations de déséchouage se passent mal. Un radeau est chargé lourdement, la Méduse flotte à nouveau mais des avaries surviennent. L'évacuation est délicate :
* les 233 passagers privilégiés, dont Chaumareys, Schmaltz et sa famille, embarquent sur six canots et chaloupes, dix-sept marins restent à bord de La Méduse, trois survivront ;
* mais 149 marins et soldats doivent s'entasser sur le radeau long de 20 mètres et large de 7 mètres avec peu de vivres. Lorsque l'amarre avec les autres canots se brise ou est volontairement larguée, le commandant laisse les passagers du radeau livrés à leur sort. La situation se dégrade rapidement, dès la première nuit vingt hommes se sont suicidés ou ont été massacrés. Après treize jours, le radeau est repéré par le brick L'Argus, quinze rescapés restent à bord : pour leur survie ils ont pratiqué très vraisemblablement le cannibalisme, cinq mourront dans les jours qui suivent. Le commandant de Chaumareys fut condamné à dix-huit ans de prison.
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The Raft of the Medusa (French: Le Radeau de la Méduse) is an oil painting of 1818–1819 by the French Romantic painter and lithographer Théodore Géricault (1791–1824). Completed when the artist was 27, the work has become an icon of French Romanticism. At 491 cm × 716 cm (16' 1" × 23' 6" ), it is an over-life-size painting that depicts a moment from the aftermath of the wreck of the French naval frigate Méduse, which ran aground off the coast of today's Mauritania on July 2, 1816. On July 5, 1816 at least 147 people were set adrift on a hurriedly constructed raft; all but 15 died in the 13 days before their rescue, and those who survived endured starvation and dehydration and practiced cannibalism. The event became an international scandal, in part because its cause was widely attributed to the incompetence of the French captain perceived to be acting under the authority of the recently restored French monarchy. In reality, King Louis XVIII had no say in the captain's appointment, since monarchs were not directly involved in appointments made to vessels like a naval frigate. The appointment of the vicomte de Chaumareys as captain of the Méduse would have been a routine naval appointment, made within the Ministry of the Navy.
History
In June 1816, the French frigate Méduse departed from Rochefort, bound for the Senegalese port of Saint-Louis. She headed a convoy of three other ships: the storeship Loire, the brig Argus and the corvette Écho. Viscount Hugues Duroy de Chaumereys had been appointed captain of the frigate despite having scarcely sailed in 20 years. The frigate's mission was to accept the British return of Senegal under the terms of France's acceptance of the Peace of Paris. The appointed French governor of Senegal, Colonel Julien-Désiré Schmaltz, and his wife Reine Schmaltz were among the passengers.
L'histoire
En 1815, Louis XVIII se réinstalle sur le trône de France. Le Sénégal vient d'être restitué à la France par les Britanniques ; le 17 juin une flottille appareille de l'île d'Aix avec la frégate La Méduse sous les ordres du commandant Hugues Duroy de Chaumareys, à son bord le futur gouverneur du Sénégal, le colonel Julien Schmaltz, accompagné de sa femme Reine Schmaltz, de leur fille, de scientifiques, de soldats et de colons. L'inexpérience, les états de services sous l'ancien régime du commandant créent un climat de suspicion et de haine. Les tensions entre Chaumareys et notamment les lieutenants Espiaux et Reynaud, mais aussi l'équipage, provoquent l'échouage de La Méduse sur le banc d'Arguin, à 160 km de la côte mauritanienne, les opérations de déséchouage se passent mal. Un radeau est chargé lourdement, la Méduse flotte à nouveau mais des avaries surviennent. L'évacuation est délicate :
* les 233 passagers privilégiés, dont Chaumareys, Schmaltz et sa famille, embarquent sur six canots et chaloupes, dix-sept marins restent à bord de La Méduse, trois survivront ;
* mais 149 marins et soldats doivent s'entasser sur le radeau long de 20 mètres et large de 7 mètres avec peu de vivres. Lorsque l'amarre avec les autres canots se brise ou est volontairement larguée, le commandant laisse les passagers du radeau livrés à leur sort. La situation se dégrade rapidement, dès la première nuit vingt hommes se sont suicidés ou ont été massacrés. Après treize jours, le radeau est repéré par le brick L'Argus, quinze rescapés restent à bord : pour leur survie ils ont pratiqué très vraisemblablement le cannibalisme, cinq mourront dans les jours qui suivent. Le commandant de Chaumareys fut condamné à dix-huit ans de prison.
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The Raft of the Medusa (French: Le Radeau de la Méduse) is an oil painting of 1818–1819 by the French Romantic painter and lithographer Théodore Géricault (1791–1824). Completed when the artist was 27, the work has become an icon of French Romanticism. At 491 cm × 716 cm (16' 1" × 23' 6" ), it is an over-life-size painting that depicts a moment from the aftermath of the wreck of the French naval frigate Méduse, which ran aground off the coast of today's Mauritania on July 2, 1816. On July 5, 1816 at least 147 people were set adrift on a hurriedly constructed raft; all but 15 died in the 13 days before their rescue, and those who survived endured starvation and dehydration and practiced cannibalism. The event became an international scandal, in part because its cause was widely attributed to the incompetence of the French captain perceived to be acting under the authority of the recently restored French monarchy. In reality, King Louis XVIII had no say in the captain's appointment, since monarchs were not directly involved in appointments made to vessels like a naval frigate. The appointment of the vicomte de Chaumareys as captain of the Méduse would have been a routine naval appointment, made within the Ministry of the Navy.
History
In June 1816, the French frigate Méduse departed from Rochefort, bound for the Senegalese port of Saint-Louis. She headed a convoy of three other ships: the storeship Loire, the brig Argus and the corvette Écho. Viscount Hugues Duroy de Chaumereys had been appointed captain of the frigate despite having scarcely sailed in 20 years. The frigate's mission was to accept the British return of Senegal under the terms of France's acceptance of the Peace of Paris. The appointed French governor of Senegal, Colonel Julien-Désiré Schmaltz, and his wife Reine Schmaltz were among the passengers.
In an effort to make good time, the Méduse overtook the other ships, but due to poor navigation it drifted 100 miles (161 km) off course. On July 2, it ran aground on a sandbank off the West African coast, near today's Mauritania. The collision was widely blamed on the incompetence of De Chaumereys, a returned émigré who lacked experience and ability, but had been granted his commission as a result of an act of political preferment. Efforts to free the ship failed, so, on July 5, the frightened passengers and crew started an attempt to travel the 60 miles (97 km) to the African coast in the frigate's six boats. Although the Méduse was carrying 400 people, including 160 crew, there was space for only about 250 in the boats. The remainder of the ship's complement—at least 146 men and one woman—were piled onto a hastily-built raft, that partially submerged once it was loaded. Seventeen crew members opted to stay aboard the grounded Méduse. The captain and crew aboard the other boats intended to tow the raft, but after only a few miles the raft was turned loose. For sustenance the crew of the raft had only a bag of ship's biscuit (consumed on the first day), two casks of water (lost overboard during fighting) and a few casks of wine.
According to critic Jonathan Miles, the raft carried the survivors "to the frontiers of human experience. Crazed, parched and starved, they slaughtered mutineers, ate their dead companions and killed the weakest." After 13 days, on July 17, 1816, the raft was rescued by the Argus by chance—no particular search effort was made by the French for the raft. By this time only 15 men were still alive; the others had been killed or thrown overboard by their comrades, died of starvation, or thrown themselves into the sea in despair. The incident became a huge public embarrassment for the French monarchy, only recently restored to power after Napoleon's defeat in 1815.