I tried looking, but the only somewhat trustworthy source I found said that the painting was made by Gericault. Not saying it was, I´d just like to have a reliable source to base my opinion on, if anyone has one

These paintings say one very important thing, “This man was loved.”

To me it seems much darker knowing it was painted by someone else. A close friend painting your sunken face seems much more difficult than painting yourself - at least in my opinion.

This painting stands out to me because of how jarring and uncomfortable the depiction of Gericault is. Reading deeper it serves as a reminder that our lives can be tragically cut short, no matter how great we are.

Personally, I find it quite profound that Corréard chose to depict what was almost certainly a bedridden Géricault in a sitting posture, and even in an outfit that almost appears to be regalia. I think it shows profound respect for the man who once depicted his own physical, mental, and emotional trials abord the raft so faithfully. It feels as if he painted Géricault in such a way that he would appear dignified and commanding even while wearing the telltale signs of illness. In effect, it feels to me that Corréard was projecting that defiance of death that people love about the erroneous self-portrait tale onto Géricault in this work, and it reveals a great deal about how he viewed him.

I feel like we are all drawn to his eyes. They look at though they are hollowed out and sad. His nose, which is crooked, seems to stretch onwards. His mouth looks nonexistent. His face, in general, looks pale and like it’s shrunken into itself. Although, he looks terrifying, he also looks a bit nostalgic. Like he is death. But his eyes, the thing that sticks out to me particularly, are warm colored. Almost like honey. It’s almost as if the portrait isn’t looking at the viewer but, his friend. This isn’t a painting of a monster nor a man who will haunt your nightmares. This is a man turning to look at his friend one last time, almost as if to say, “Even in death, I will find you. My friend, this may be my end, but it’s not our end. Till we see each other again, goodbye.” He isn’t scary, he’s just looking at someone he cares about for a final time. The reason that he looks hollowed and scary is because death is. But, hey, that’s just a theory, a painting theory. Thanks for reading!

The fact that Géricault's friend painted it lends it a satisfying cyclical quality, that his association with Correard started and ended with a remarkable work of art. And the portrait of the dying Géricault is remarkable in a way that only a man who has been close to death can achieve and, with his experiences on the raft, Correard was very familiar with death indeed. I doubt he felt any hope for his friend, he'd know too well what a dying man looked like. In a previous job, a long time ago, I was privileged enough to share the last moments of life with a number of individuals. The look of dying has been captured perfectly. The tissue paper thin skin, sunken cheeks, hollow eyes and almost fleshless face. Despite this, he looks defiant to my eyes, he almost glares at us from the painting. The Raft of the Medusa was painted to launch Géricault's career and was made to be confrontational and dramatic. This last portrait is no less confrontational but it is a far more sombre affair. It is a momento mori. Correard, no doubt with some encouragement and guidance from his friend, is confronting us with as stark an image of death and dying as you're ever likely to see anywhere. "Here is the great artist, look how low death has laid him, in time it will have you too." But his eyes remain defiant, the Windows to his soul. Death has his body and it will take its due in time but it doesn't have HIM. For me, that's where the hope lies. At the risk of sounding more pretentious than I've made myself sound already, I'm going to quote Shakespeare. "We are such stuff as dreams are made of, and our little life is rounded with a sleep." I'd like to think that there is some trace of us after we pass on, some vestige in the aether of the person we once were. And maybe that's the portion we see in Géricault's eyes, that part of us that death does not hold dominion over. And maybe that's the bit that slips into our last sleep, the distilled essence of who we were, waiting for who knows what?

i love that they painted each other's tragedies, it's sort of poetic

There is another layer to this portrait which is the incredibly daring expressiveness of the brushstrokes and the overall modernist look of it. For a painting in 1824, when academicism with all its strictness was at its height, such a painting, both loaded with emotion and realised with emotion by Corréard, is a masterpiece. We can only imagine what pain Corréard was going through while seeing his friend, to whom he was so greatful, fade out of existence.

I don't know why, but I don't feel absolute horrid looking at this painting. It's strangely... calming, soothing even. As I look into the sunken, tired eyes of the subject, it's like time slowed down for him. At the time of painting, he probably didn't have much life left to live. His time is passing soon. Maybe it's the colors that were used? They're not pastel, fluffy or adorable, but there's a tenderness, an appreciation for something so fragile. There is grief, there is pain, but ultimately, there's appreciation. Somehow, I'm reassured that the moment he breathe his last breath and those sunken eyes close forever, he would be wrap in clean and warm fabric, that he will be taken care of with all the emphasis on the "care".

I remember my grandma had a disease that made her bruise really easily. I once had a nightmare that she had those bruises for eyes and I'm frightened at how similar it looks to the painting on the thumbnail so I just had to check this out.

Makes me think of mozart's requiem. He wrote a mass for the dead while he was dying, and his students had to finish it for him. I believe the Lacrimosa only had a skeleton of it written before he passed, which makes it even more haunting because it was completed by the people who missed him most.

The images you show of the paintings are considerably enhanced. I work as a tour guide in Paris, and can report that the real works in the Louvre are sadly mired by a dirty yellow film of old varnish. The museum has just unveiled a freshly cleaned Delacroix, "The Massacre at Chios", which reveals the original colours. It has to be seen to be believed. It is simply astonishing! They are currently working on "The Death of Sardanapalos". Gericault's "Medusa" and Delacroix's "Liberty Leading the People" are patiently waiting their turn!

It's a magnificent work of art. The portrait shows a man facing death; and still his eyes are filled wit immanent light: We can see his soul through the artist's painting.

The real story is even more impressive than the internet popularized one, in my opinion. I think that Géricault being painted by Correard has an astonishing symmetry and the fact they were friends it's quite heartwarming.

Maybe it's because of my colourblindness and I'm seeing the shadows a bit differently, but he looks quite resolute and resilient in the face of death. Almost standing tall. And knowing it was painted by a friend feels like it solidifies this as how they perceived him even as his life drained away.

That someone else drew it makes it even more meaningful He didn’t die alone in his paintings

Got chills when you said who actually painted it. I find that much more grim than a self portrait but as you said there is companionship in tragedy between the two

i really like how much it looks like a skull, like hes decomposing but hes clearly still alive

Knowing it was done by his friend, makes it more special to me. Awesome video. This channel is my favorite place to learn about art history. The way it's presented, the music used, the narration are all very captivating.

Brilliant! When I first saw this painting, I always assumed it was about Gericault confronting death in his last days, but now knowing who the true artist was, my opinion has completely changed. It's about memory and grief and surviving. Having watching my own best friend pass away, I can understand the desire to paint the memory. The image of those last moments and the passing are burned in my memory. I can only assume that it was the same for Correard.

the skill these artists had is genuinely crazy

This is absolutely terrifying. Thank you for broadening my mind!

PLOT TWIST... Love it. Everything about the story behind this painting is just... Wow

This is so interesting. I wrote an essay on the Romantic movement - specifically it’s unusual and interesting approach to the depiction of mental illness - last year, and I’m very surprised that I never came across this haunting portrait. It’s an unusual work, and it’s been very exciting to grasp a deeper insight on it. Wonderful video as per usual!

i really owe so much to your vids, i’m a starting art student, right now i’m still studying medieval arts (help it’s kinda boring to me 😭), but with your videos i’ve learnt so much on how to research and truly look at art with a critical eye. i really love getting to know such in depth stories behind some more specific works of art instead of having to rush through huge and long eras (like i do in school) thank you so much for your videos, they truly are art

The painting for me, as harrowing and intense as it is, is made vivid and beautiful with your video commentary.

Thank you for posting this video🙏

As a self portrait i appreciated it for its sense of self reflection but as a portrait from a friend i can now appreciate it as a monument.

the fact its a self portrait at first glance is terrifying. How brilliant context is, as i for one wouldn't of came to the same level of empathy & understanding without it.

thank you for your very good pronunciation of the french names. That's something most youtubers don't really give much consideration. So, thumbs up for that!

Good video but theres massive audio issues

Wow this takes me back! I used an exposition of Gericaults work for my entrance exam in college, and especially the paintings of the decapitated limbs were gorgeous in person. The last portrait of Gericault especially was very striking because you couldn't help but feel distraught and emotional at the same time. Thanks for the video, more peeps should look into this wonderful artist!

"There's nothing darker than an artist depicting themselves dead" When i was like 12 i liked editing realistic gory pictures of myself beheaded or without my eyes on Ibispaint X and my parents said i shouldn't do that I didn't understand what was the problem at the time but now i realise that your own son showing you a picture of himself dead would be really disturbing

Wonderful video. Thank you for such informational art channel!

You apparently uploaded this video at the exact time I was trying to remember what the painting "The Raft of Medusa" was called... And then this turns up in my recommended the next day and you mention it! Thanks, although now I'm slightly terrified of you!

This is quite possibly the most instantly fascinating channel I've ever come upon.

How calming listening to his voice...! Amazing channel and great work!, i don't get why it doesn't gain many followers.

Every art work has a story. The story certainly informs the work and is embedded in it. But great art work gives the viewer a place to stand. Gericault was glossed over in my early art history survey courses. This is revelatory. Thank you. As disturbing as "The Raft" is, what you have been able to do is to broaden the space of time surrounding it and this is huge. Thanks again.

Thank you for telling his story, I never would've known such brilliance if not for you.

Thanks for the vid

It is so good to get info - just love finding out good things and truths. Kudos.

Thank you for your work and time! Hi from a french otter.

thank you for this! Stories like this bring the past's humanity, and life struggle and compassion into the present. Living breathing people who were just as passionate about their days as we are of ours, brought to life.

I'm just impressed that the art community was friendly, did research, cared for each other, and boosted each other's works and careers. I've known so many artists that are choatic and competative and rarely put in that level of effort and it's been leading to this cyclical cynicism in art that's so yucky. but these guys were really invested in each other and took that time to just be human in each other's spaces and I'm knid of just amazed by that in a world post Warhol where everything just has this dark, half-done and touched-out feeling where the most innovative works actually sort of feel like a compulsive backlash at that. but then everything ultimately gets reabsorbed into the machine bc no one can escape the creeping dark cloud, even people like Banksy and AI can't seem to shake away. All innovation is a backlash to a backlash and no longer to document, explore, and reach accross the narrative divide

this painting has always fascinated me in that there was very little reputable information about it online so im glad to see someone gave it some better documentation! also thrilled to now know what museum its located at as I would love to see it in person some day.

Merci pour les bonne prononciations ! Et pour l'excellent travaille de documentation. Un vrai mini-cours :D

Love your videos and this one was no exception, thank you for bringing so many amazing artworks to my attention that I never would have seen otherwise. I hadn't seen this painting before but I think that the fact it was painted by a friend of Géricault and not himself makes it even more interesting than if it were a self portrait. The fact that Correard was willing to paint his friend like this is somewhat telling about the character of the two men and the friendship they had. Surely Correard wouldn't have made so ghastly a painting if he hadn't known that Géricault appreciated the macabre. Because he did know what his friend would or wouldn't appreciate, we get this amazing work of art. Unrelated but what is that music you use in a lot of your videos about darker topics? It's kind of a droning tune with what almost sounds like an "ohm" chant in the background

New Subscriber the Gallows enlightened my soul and it yearns for more.

Really interesting, thank you for sharing.

Is it me or is the audio severely clipping?

Love your videos just wish they were a lot longer

Great video, but the audio's messed up.

that was very interesting. thank you.

I love the story and the common mistake. It's those nuances that make art so fun. Love the friends clubs throughout history too, like the impressionist in the salon or the preraphaelites, painting, chatting, teaching eachother, smoking cigarettes and drinking brandy. It's great.

I think it's even more powerful that is was his friend, whose tragedy he depicted first through art, who returned the favor and did the same for him. There's something tragic, yet kind and healing it this.

In my humble opinion I think it makes it MUCH more interesting that it was NOT a self portrait. Thank you I enjoyed this video very much and instructive

You just made me cry so much, i dont care that it wasnt a self portrait, its amazing, and heck, super sad 😢

When I thought it was a self portrait, I thought of it in terms of how art immortalizes something in a way. And how a self-portrait is a way for an artist to immortalize a vision of themselves. And that in choosing to paint something like this, an artist would be choosing to immortalize their own mortality, which is interesting. Had this been really a self-portrait of Gericault, it would be especially poignant considering his dedication to painting death. But any artist depicting their own death or mortality still carries that aspect. I wouldn’t say knowing it wasn’t that after all adds nuance, but rather that it just radically changes the nuance. In a way, going back to the idea of immortalizing something with art, it was someone, I’d imagine, trying to immortalize and memorialize his friend, in spite of his death, almost pulling him out of death and into immortality. And just as it would have been if it were a self-portrait, the fact that it immortalizes the morbidity of someone dedicated to depicting and, well, immortalizing, mortality and decay, is still incredibly fitting.

Why does the low end of your audio sound like the 12" subwoofer in the back of my mate's Vauxhall Corsa with the EQ set to bass boost?

Perception changes based on knowledge, and one of those paintings made me feel astoundingly more attached to Portrait style painting.

Only looking at the thumbnail before, only when watching did I realise that the portrait did not lack eyes. I'd always look at it and be reminded of the haunting painting of Alexander from Amnesia The Dark Descent. I think it's possible that this portrait could have inspired that, especially since I also thought that there was no mouth, whereas in the case of Gericault it is concealed by his beard, but in the case of Alexander, there is only a gaping hole. I think that it's very touching that Corréard would paint this portrait, it is quite the tale, to survive and be depicted on the raft, and then paint Gericault when he himself wasn't a painter. I also think that painting someone at Death's Door can be more difficult and intense than the ill individual painting himself. To me it also shows that they felt comfortable in each others company even at this point in Gericault's life - though I don't know how much time they would have had to spend together for the painting to be made. Thank you for this video! It's been on my Watch Later list and I appreciate your work making this!

I couldn’t stop staring at those sunken eyes, a very haunting painting indeed.

You need to fix the audio levels, I could hear some peeking in certain areas of the video

you are the first english speaking youtuber I've to almost perfectly prononce french names

I think this makes the portrait even more moving. I see it as a painting from a heart-broken friend, and by painting his friend in this manner; refutes death as eternal. Just my opinion. :)

this is a deeply meaningful and beautiful painting. that it was done by a bosom friend makes it all the more poignant. what a loss. :’ 🥀

0:46 I really enjoy that brush work with that colouring... Very vivid!

Honestly, hearing that makes the painting so much more beautiful

I love this channel

For someone who is recently discovering their love of art these videos are full of revelations

The Raft of Medusa hangs in the Louve, and coming upon it in the gallery I was overwhelmed by it and its story.

Hey dude great video. Your channel has some great content. It might just be me, but it seems like your audio is distorting at times. My guess is that it's clipping. This is the process of the combined volume of your voiceover and background sounds going over the software's limit, so the sound wave is kind of chopped off. This creates some crunchy, crackly distortion which doesn't sound that good. If you want to get rid of it, you would just have to turn down the background drone, like in the beginning when you say "gericault's first major work". The reason it's clipping even though it might not seem that loud is because low frequencies are perceived more quietly by the human ear than higher/more harsh ones. So even though it's not that loud to us, the computer is processing this massive wave of barely audible low frequencies, which causes the clipping.

Thank you.

He was so loved. I hope that was a comfort to him as he passed.

How lucky that the survivor was also a talented artist as well

I had a feeling this would come back to the raft and the relationships that came out of it. For further reading on scene of a shipwreck (including examples of the preliminary studies of decay) see lorenz eitner's gericault's 'raft of the medusa' and Albert Alhadeff's 'the raft of the medusa: gericault art and race'. Both can be found in the university of Salford library (strangely), and are worth combining for a fuller picture.

IDK what's going on but there's some sort of bass sound in your video that is making it very grating to watch...

Fantastic haunting video. Have you done Ensor?

This painting is very interesting, you see the features of the skull underneath, the eyes, so extremely sunken but bright like gold, the skin..thin and pale. A very interesting composition indeed. There is a certain darkness to how Gericault is looking in the image, how he is looking towards the viewer. Overall I rate it a “Great” on the creepy scale.

I've always loved this painting, when I was in College, a classmate and I had a debate on that, they said it was a portrait of Van Gogh, where I said, I could easily see why thats seen, still wasn't true though I almost wish it was. They had a fairly good argument that they saw Van Gogh painted in a way where he was depicted in a state of total despair and the lack of a visible mouth was a representation of him not being able to fully express his feelings, though the eyes looking directly at the viewer, seem to burrow into your soul in trying to get something across that is just not spoken about... I truly loved the idea, and actually told them to do a portrait of Van Gogh in a style like this or mix this style with Van Goghs, even our painting instructor wanted to see that, but they decided against it, thinking we were being patronizing. Any wanted to share the story. Thank you for the video

Corréard later went on to publish Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. Ironic given that Corréard was himself abandoned and treated like a monster and went on to develop feelings of revenge all of which was reflective of the protagonist in Shelley’s novel which Corréard brought to a European audience in 1821. Corréard’s publication of Frankenstein followed the eerily similar gathering of body parts in Gericault’s studio which might well have been the catalyst for Corréard establishing linkage between his life and the story of Victor Frankenstein

Do you have any information as to where this painting is at the moment or any references for what is shown in the video? I’m really interested in learning more about it, it’s haunting

It makes me appreciate the portrait more, knowing that it was created by a friend.

as somebody who just stumbled across this video and has very little knowledge of art I personally see the painting is quite morbid which is a surface value considering it’s a dead person, but I feel the idea of it being painted by Gericault as a good way to see how a man can perceive death on himself, yet not know it could be at any point in time, if it was his last portrait it was fitting, a story of sorts, but say it was by Alexandre, then i personally see it not as a homage to him, but as mourning him, he looks austere yet literslly decayed, showing that Gericault died in a prime, solid era in his life, and his friend wanted to represent that in his sadness, as seen by the entire aura of the work

I'll not comment on how informative and well-made this video is, or on the soothing quality of your voice. I'll just comment on one thing: you made a special effort to be faithful to the french pronunciation of the names. As a language lover, that is something I always notice and appreciate 🤩

It is a very strong piece for me and I find myself mooved by it. It reminds me of the jarring "deathportrait" series by the finnish-swedish painter Helene Schjerfbeck. The series was the last paintings she ever produced before her deth and show her slow decay. The exhibition is one of my strongest art memories to date and is one that I come back to in my mind of reference again and again.

The fact that this video ended in my recommendation literally the day after we started studying Géricault in my Art History class is both funny and unsettling. I’m interested by this specific topic, and also by the moment where he started painting mentally ill people (because the theories that maybe we can recognize mental illnesses by comparing faces of mentally ill and mentally healthy people. It was around 20 years before the invention of photography, which they started to use to continue this theory instead of painting). My next Art History class is tomorrow, I’ll talk about this video with my teacher !

Heartbreaking story and works ...

I actually don't care if it's a self-portrait or not. The painting speaks for itself and to me it has a very dark and possessive aura about it. I also want to thank you for your work, in a virtual sea of ​​irrelevance and self-expression your YT channel is a beacon of quality.

As beautiful painting a friend who was lost, the Pain and Mourning when painting the peace would've been dreadful

amazing video

Très intéressant! On voit vraiment la ressemblance du portrait avec des traits cadavériques; c'est à la fois glauque et captivant

Best channel on youtube

yo i love your vids you put out great quality stuff but the audio on this particular video is like super bassy

The Westside Gunn album remake is amazing. Using the painting to add another level to the album and then learning the history behind this piece amazing.

gorgeous!

I think that the fact that his friend made the painting makes it even more appealing

It feels haunting but you can't seem to escape his eyes. Like I want to look away but his eyes kind of commands you to look at him. Also, for me, it feels weirdly unfinished. Like it was painted in the hopes that his friend would survive or that they could've had more time together and share insight about the painting but his friend died before he could finish it and so it's been abandoned to look like that. Like starting the painting in the hopes you can show it to him and then he just dies so you really don't have any reason to continue it at all. You can continue it in his memory but if the memory is too heavt to bear, it's easier to leave things unfinished and stash it away to be forgotten. At least, that's what I think.

Wow, i'm french and i have to say the accent on french words is remarquable, good job :)