Where Is Portrait of the Carpenter of The Medusa?

Q: Who was the carpenter of the Medusa?

The carpenter was Lavillette, one of fifteen survivors who spent thirteen days on the raft. Géricault interviewed him extensively and had him build a replica raft for the studio.

Q: Why did Géricault paint this portrait?

This was a preparatory study for "The Raft of the Medusa." Géricault obsessively researched the disaster, interviewing survivors, visiting hospitals, and studying the actual raft's construction to achieve authenticity.

Q: Where can I see The Raft of the Medusa?

The monumental painting hangs at the Louvre in Paris. It measures nearly 5 by 7 meters and remains one of the most powerful works of French Romanticism.

French artist Théodore Géricault painted this portrait as part of his exhaustive research for "The Raft of the Medusa." The subject is Lavillette, the ship's carpenter who survived the 1816 Medusa disaster. He was one of only fifteen people who lived through the horrific thirteen days adrift on the makeshift raft.

Géricault brought Lavillette to his studio and commissioned him to build a scale model of the raft. This allowed the artist to study the structure's perspective and construction details for his monumental painting. The Romantic painter spent two years interviewing survivors, visiting morgues, and studying corpses to achieve the brutal realism of his work. This portrait captures one of the ordinary men whose harrowing tale would shock France and expose government negligence.

The carpenter was Lavillette, one of fifteen survivors who spent thirteen days on the raft. Géricault interviewed him extensively and had him build a replica raft for the studio.

This was a preparatory study for "The Raft of the Medusa." Géricault obsessively researched the disaster, interviewing survivors, visiting hospitals, and studying the actual raft's construction to achieve authenticity.

The monumental painting hangs at the Louvre in Paris. It measures nearly 5 by 7 meters and remains one of the most powerful works of French Romanticism.

Portrait of the Carpenter of The Medusa

Where to See It

The Artist

More by Théodore Géricault

Study for the Race of the Barbarian Horses

Head of a horseman

Slaves stopping a horse, study for The Race of the Barbarian Horses

The Horse Market: Five Horses at the Stake

Also at Musée des Beaux-Arts de Rouen, Rouen

Slaves stopping a horse, study for The Race of the Barbarian Horses

Portrait of a Carabinier

Study of a Man

Male 'académie' Seated and Seen from Behind

Related Romanticism Works

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The Clothed Maja

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About Portrait of the Carpenter of The Medusa

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