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Lot Essay
In his early sketches for the pivotal Radeau de la méduse (first exhibited at the Salon of 1819), Géricault toyed with the idea of including the portrait of a family among the shipwrecked - which was to embody the ultimate pathos of the dramatic event. He thus chose to depict the family of the store-keeper and cook of the ship - la cantinière - who comes to epitomise the Romantic heroin, theatrically laying in her husbands arms, whilst their son is abandoned on the father's left shoulder.
During the gradual process of elaboration of the monumental canvas, Géricault studied several possible episodes that the shipwreck offered. As L. Eitner wrote, 'In trying to reduce the drama of the raft to a single scene he had to rely on verbal descriptions [of the survivors]. He struggled to translate the words of Corréard [the ship's engineer and geographer] and Savigny [the surgeon] into images, grasping at anything that might help him give substance to their tale - popular lithographs of the shipwreck, the talk of survivors, a scale model of the raft built for him by the Medusa's carpenter... To judge from the early drawings which survive, [Géricault] was initially drawn to five episodes of Corréard's and Savigny's account. In several very elaborate drawings he treated the ferocious Mutiny of the sailors against their officers' (Géricault. His Life and Work, London, 1983, p. 165). La famille de la cantinière was to be included precisely in the scene representing the Mutiny, as one can see from the dramatic pen and ink drawing La Mutinerie (Bazin 1925, Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam; fig. 1). The present drawing is thus a very important document, witnessing an early step in the creation of Géricault's undisputed masterpiece.
It is interesting to note that even when confronted with the summum of Romantic Sturm und Drang, Géricault never denied his most strong ties with classical tradition. In La famille de la cantinière, the young man's contorted position is modelled on the powerful torsion of the Laocoon (fig. 2), which Géricault had certainly admired in the Cortile del Belvedere (Vatican Museums), in the course of his stay in Italy (1816-17).
Professor Eitner has kindly confirmed the authenticity of this work.
During the gradual process of elaboration of the monumental canvas, Géricault studied several possible episodes that the shipwreck offered. As L. Eitner wrote, 'In trying to reduce the drama of the raft to a single scene he had to rely on verbal descriptions [of the survivors]. He struggled to translate the words of Corréard [the ship's engineer and geographer] and Savigny [the surgeon] into images, grasping at anything that might help him give substance to their tale - popular lithographs of the shipwreck, the talk of survivors, a scale model of the raft built for him by the Medusa's carpenter... To judge from the early drawings which survive, [Géricault] was initially drawn to five episodes of Corréard's and Savigny's account. In several very elaborate drawings he treated the ferocious Mutiny of the sailors against their officers' (Géricault. His Life and Work, London, 1983, p. 165). La famille de la cantinière was to be included precisely in the scene representing the Mutiny, as one can see from the dramatic pen and ink drawing La Mutinerie (Bazin 1925, Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam; fig. 1). The present drawing is thus a very important document, witnessing an early step in the creation of Géricault's undisputed masterpiece.
It is interesting to note that even when confronted with the summum of Romantic Sturm und Drang, Géricault never denied his most strong ties with classical tradition. In La famille de la cantinière, the young man's contorted position is modelled on the powerful torsion of the Laocoon (fig. 2), which Géricault had certainly admired in the Cortile del Belvedere (Vatican Museums), in the course of his stay in Italy (1816-17).
Professor Eitner has kindly confirmed the authenticity of this work.