Raft of the Medusa

ART AND IMAGES IN PSYCHIATRY

SECTION EDITOR: JAMES C. HARRIS, MD Raft of the Medusa

[E]very moment an officer who was in the governor’s boat cried out aloud, “Shall I let go?” Mr Clanet opposed it, answering with firmness, “No, no!” Some persons joined him, but could obtain nothing, the towrope was let go...acryof“weforsake them” was heard....1(p30-31)

HÉODORE GÉRICAULT (1791-1824) READ THE into the port of St Louis in Senegal and had relied on a passenger tragic tale Narrative of a Voyage to Senegal in 1816, with knowledge of the African coast as navigator, ignoring the ad- an account of the extraordinary suffering expe- vice of his own crew. The 400 passengers included the governor rienced by J. B. Henry Savigny and Alexandre Cor- general of the new colony (Schmaltz), his wife and daughter, set- reárd and other shipwrecked survivors after aban- tlers (men and women), and a contingent of troops. There was a donmentT on a raft following the shipwreck of the frigate Medusa. natural antagonism between the captain and the soldiers, who were He met with the authors in November 1817 to discuss their or- largely drawn from Napoleon’s defeated army, many of whom were deal.2 Correárd’s and Savigny’s account drew universal outrage. conscripts. Ironically, after Napoleon’s capitulation, the Medusa Only 15 of 150 of those abandoned on the raft had survived 13 was one of 2 ships that had been assigned to take him and his com- days on the open sea off the coast of Africa until their rescue by panions into exile in America; now he resided in St Helena, 1000 the crew of the brig Argus; 5 more died shortly after being rescued. kilometers off the coast of Africa. Intrigued by their story, Ge´ricault visited other survivors who had The lifeboats accommodated about 250 of the 400 passen- been transferred to hospitals in Paris, France. Correárd, the chief gers. The soldiers were suspicious of being abandoned, and a raft engineer and geographer, and Savigny, the second surgeon, had was constructed from masts and crossbeams. It was crudely con- expected recognition and reward from their government. When structed, roughly 65 feet by 23 feet. It had a sail but no means of it was not forthcoming, they published their story of abandonment navigation, no oars, and no anchor; it was to be towed to shore by an incompetent captain, a royalist political appointee, Hugues by the lifeboats. When the men (and 1 married woman) were Duroys de Chaumereys (1763-1841), who had little previous navi- loaded onto it, some 150 of them, they sank in the sea to their gational experience. Their book described the drastic means they waists at the ends of the raft. It was hopelessly overcrowded; each had taken to survive on the raft to a confused public, who was cop- man only had 3 square feet to stand. When the towrope was cut, ing with the restoration of the monarchy after Napoleon’s final those on the raft were left with a primitive sail but no means to defeat. Following the publication of their book, funds were raised navigate. Seventeen men remained behind on the Medusa. through a subscription on behalf of the survivors that attracted The only food available was a small supply of biscuits (soon contaminatedwithseawater)andbarrelsofwine.Onthefirstnight, prominent donors, including General Lafayette and the psychia- althoughtheoccupantstiedthemselvestogetherwithrope,20went trist J. E. D. Esquirol. overboard and 12 died, trapped between the planks. The second On February 24, 1817, at an unannounced naval proceeding, night saw heavier seas; drunken soldiers attacked the officers and de Chaumereys was found guilty by his peers of criminal negli- 60 died in the fighting or drowned. The wine was rationed, but gence and of conduct unbecoming an officer for abandoning the the fighting resumed on the third night. By the fifth day, only 30 raft and leaving able-bodied men aboard the ship; he received a were left; soldiers who stole rationed wine were killed, leaving 27. 3-year prison term and forfeited his naval position, title, and honor. Finally, the 15 men in the best health surveyed their prospects and Correárd saw this as a mild punishment and actively campaigned calculated that it would take at least another week before rescue for the death penalty. Moreover, both Savigny and Correárd, who ships could arrive. Eleven men and 1 woman who were not ex- was a leading abolitionist, drew attention to the illegal renewal pected to survive more than a day or two more were cast overboard of the slave trade in Senegal under the new governor, Julien-De´sire´ to preserve rations. The authors wrote: “We deliberated thus: to Schmaltz, who was on the Medusa and was complicit in the cap- put the sick on half allowance would have been killing them by tain’s actions. Slavery had been banned by Napoleon at the end inches. So after a debate, at which the most dreadful despair pre- of his reign and by the restored monarchy. Correárd’s views on sided, it was resolved to throw them into the sea. . . . Three sail- the abolition of slavery may well have influenced Ge´ricault. They ors and a soldier took upon themselves the cruel execution: we also accused the governor of feasting after his safe arrival by life- turned our faces aside, and wept tears of blood....”1(p58-59) The boat in Senegal and seemingly forgetting about the castaways. authors appeal to the reader who shudders at their actions to con- On June 17, 1816, the French frigate (a medium-sized sailing sider the responsibility of those who abandoned them and placed warship with 1 gun deck) Medusa, the flagship of a convoy of 4 them in this situation. And they ask for forbearance for their means ships (with the Loire, Argus, and Echo) had set sail to recolonize of survival by cannibalism, writing Senegal, a former colony returned to the French monarchy after Napoleon’s final defeat at Waterloo in 1815. At 11 AM on July 2, But an extreme resource was necessary to preserve our wretched a clear day in calm seas, it ran aground on a sandbar about 4 miles existence. We tremble in horror at being obliged to mention what from the African shore. Captain de Chaumereys had outrun the we made use of! We feel the pen drop from our hands, a death-like other ships in his convoy, so no help was available from them to chill pervades all our limbs, our hair stands erect on our heads! Reader refloat the ship. He had ignored the usual practice of sailing ves- we beseech you, do not feel indignation toward men who are al- sels going out to sea and relying on the winds to move directly ready too unfortunate; but have compassion on them.1(p52-53)

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©2006 American Medical Association. All rights reserved. Downloaded From: https://jamanetwork.com/ on 10/01/2021 Many men, especially the officers, initially held back from can- The Sighting of the Argus, the final choice for the painting, re- nibalism, but eventually all partook. When the raft was found, tained the closeness to the raft in the foreground but steadily dis- Parnajon, the captain of the Argus, commented on the dried strips tanced the rescue ship from the raft.4 There are 4 dramatically of human flesh spread out on the raft.2 distinct groups in the painting: (1) dead, dying, or despondent Wine was the main source of sustenance. Exhaustion, star- men in the foreground, including 2 figures taken to be a father vation, extreme thirst, injury, tropical heat, and sleep depriva- grieving the death of his son; (2) 4 men, alert and watchful, stand- tion all contributed to the mental state of those aboard. De- ing on the other side of the mast: among them Correárd, who points lirium, hallucinations, and delusional beliefs were common. One with an outstretched arm with Savigny standing behind him; (3) victim on the raft spoke of going to that wine merchant over there, 5 men who struggle to rise to their feet; and (4) 3 men who mount expecting he was entering the merchant’s house as he threw him- barrels and signal to the Argus. Light fills a diagonal axis that self into the sea. Savigny suggested that those on board the raft stretches from bodies at the lower left up to a powerful black man suffered from phrenitis calenture, a form of delirium thought at at the apex, raised on the shoulders of his comrades, who holds the time to be brought on by the excessive tropical heat. Some a piece of cloth that unfurls in the wind as he waves it beneath a saw the ocean waves as green hills. This vision was attributed to luminous sky over a wind-ploughed sea.4 individual delirium rather than being a mirage (an optical illu- Ge´ricault won a gold medal at the Paris Salon in August 1819. sion due to variations in the refractive index of the atmosphere— By the time of the exhibition, the sensationalism of the raft story first defined by Gaspar Monge [1746-1818], a physicist who ac- had begun to subside. His painting was exhibited with the title companied Napoleon in Egypt, to explain the illusion of seeing Scene From a Ship Wreck; its association with the Medusa was left water in the desert). One occupant joked that “if a brig is sent to to the viewer. When the king, Louis XVIII, visited the Salon, he look for us, let us pray to God that she may have the eyes of Ar- made a long stop and carefully observed the painting. His com- gus (a mythological giant with 100 eyes).”1(p66) Several days later, ment to Ge´ricault about the painting as a scene from a ship- a captain of infantry announced that he saw a ship, a brig, at great wreck at once judged the work and encouraged the artist. 3 Over- distance—it was the Argus: all, the reviews were mixed: negative about the subdued coloring and absence of religious or heroic elements, but positive about [W]e gave a thousand thanks to God; yet, fears mingled with our hopes; we strai[gh]tened some hoops of casks, to the end of which the dynamism of the composition. Ge´ricault left Paris for the coun- we tied handkerchiefs of different colors. A man, assisted by us all tryside with a friend, tired, depressed, and suspicious. Although together, mounted to the top of the mast and waved these little he sought to depict suffering rather than make a political state- flags...somethought that they saw the ship become larger, and ment, the French had looked for a broad political statement in others affirmed its course carried it from us....1(p68) the painting. Later, Ge´ricault’s spirits were lifted by the British, who were more objective and more positive in their assessment The brig disappeared and their joy dissipated into despair as when the painting was exhibited in London. Some British re- they now awaited death with resignation. They made a tent from viewers saw a veiled reference to cannibalism in the father/son the sail and lay under it on the raft; they determined to inscribe image in the foreground, recalling Joshua Reynolds’s portrayal their experiences on a board and enter each of their names so if of Ugolino and his sons from Dante’s Inferno, who was said to the raft were found messages might reach their families. When have devoured his sons, at their request, after their deaths. a master gunner ventured from the tent he returned jubilant, Recent analysis of the painting has drawn greater attention to 1(p69) “Saved! See the brig close upon us.” The Argus had been sent Ge´ricault’s positive attitudes regarding the abolition of slavery.8 to provide supplies to those who had reached shore in the Sa- Placing a black man at the apex of the Raft of the Medusa and a hara desert by lifeboat and inadvertently found them. graphic drawing of the slave trade that Ge´ricault completed are Ge´ricault studied the disaster, as a friend wrote, with the per- proposed as evidence for this. 2 sistence a judge would apply in his docket. Psychologically, he Ge´ricault died prematurely at age 33 years. The Louvre had been under considerable family pressure after impregnating purchased his painting the year after his death. The Raft of the 3,4 his uncle’s young wife, who was 6 years his senior. Now, put- Medusa now resides in the Louvre alongside masterpieces by ting aside his shame, he was single-minded in his approach to this Eugeńe Delacroix, Gustave Courbet, Jacques-Louis David, and painting. To recreate the atmosphere on the raft, he went to a Paris Jean-Antoine Gros, providing Ge´ricault posthumously with morgue to draw bodies and did portraits of dying patients at the the recognition he richly deserves. Hoˆpital Beaujon in Paris. He placed body parts and a severed head in his studio to recreate the atmosphere of human decay on the James C. Harris, MD raft and painted still-lifes of dissected limbs and the severed head of a guillotined man. For a time, he kept these human remains to observe and record their gradual decay to emulate the experience REFERENCES of the men on the raft. During that time, only his most intrepid friends visited the malodorous studio, some fearing infection.2 In 1. Savigny JBH, Correárd A. Narrative of a Voyage to Senegal in 1816 [first pub- preparation, Ge´ricault also reviewed scenes of battle, suffering, lished in London, England, 1818]. Marlboro, Vermont: The Marlboro Press; 1986. anddeathintheworksofMichelangelo,Rubens,Caravaggio,Gros,5,6 2. Alhadeff A. Raft of the Medusa: Ge´ricault, Art and Race. New York, NY: Prestel; 2002. and others. He sought to depict the sublime and terrible as Fuseli 3. Eitner LEA. Ge´ricault, His Life and Work. London, England: Orbis; 1983. 7 had done in his painting The Nightmare. 4. Eitner LEA. Ge´ricault’s Raft of the Medusa. London, England: Phaidon; 1972. Ge´ricault sketched 5 alternative episodes of the disaster on the 5. Harris JC. Napoleon Bonaparte Visiting the Plague-Stricken at Jaffa. Arch Gen raft: Mutiny, Cannibalism, Sighting of the Argus, Hailing the Ap- Psychiatry. 2006;63:482-483. proaching Rowing-Boat, and Rescue. He composed each episode 6. Grigsby DG. Ge´ricault’s Raft of the Medusa, 1819. In: Extremities: Painting Em- in detail. In Mutiny and Cannibalism, he depicted the action from pire in Post-Revolutionary France. New Haven, Conn: Yale University Press; 2002: 165-235. a distance. For the Hailing, the raft was brought into the fore- 7. Harris JC. The Nightmare. Arch Gen Psychiatry. 2004;61:439-440. ground to transport the viewer onto the raft to participate with 8. Boime A. Ge´ricault’s African slave trade and the physiognomy of the oppressed. the survivors’ suffering rather than remain a detached observer.4 In: Michel R, ed. Louvre Confe´rences et Colloques. Paris, France; 1996.

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