Plan of the Raft of the Medusa - at the moment of its being abandoned RMG PU6114, 1818

Plan of the raft of the medusa / at the moment of its being abandoned titled as above, with text continued below the image '150 frenchmen were placed on this machine / 15 only were saved 13 days after. This print relates to gericault's painting 'the raft of the medusa' and the event of 1816 on which that is based, for which see pah7401. The image is based on a drawing by the geographer alexandre corréard, one of the survivors of the loss of the french frigate, 'la meduse', off the west coast of africa, and probably comes from the english edition of the published account of the affair which he co-authored with hubert savigny, the surviving ship's surgeon. This was originally published in paris in 1817 but was quickly translated into other languages. There were in fact only 10 survivors from the raft, since five of those rescued died within days: three other men survived on the ship (of 17 who had stayed on board), after it grounded on a shoal 30 miles off the coast of mauretania: the other survivors escaped to shore in the boats, which started by towing the 20-metre raft but cast it off as unmanageable and for fear of being overwhelmed by the 145 men and one woman originally on it. Date: 1818. Dimensions: Mount: 204 mm x 125 mm. Collection: Fine art.