Essay On Theodore Gericault's Biography

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“An Artist’s Biography” Theodore Gericault was a significant figure in the art of French style paintings, which lead him to be a big proponent of Romanticism. Gericault was born in Rouen, France in 1791 into a wealthy bourgeois family and shortly thereafter he moved to Paris, France. Because of his great wealth, he was able to indulge his appetite for the arts as well as equestrianism because he loved horses as well. Furthermore, among the artist of his time he had less formal training, but this would not deter him. Gericault was known for his painting Raft of the Medusa, but he initially started out painting sculptural paintings which were similar to the works of Michelangelo. While he was at school in Paris he became classmates with the likes of Delacroix, who was greatly influenced by Gericault’s works, but he himself went on to become of the greatest Romantic painters. After a brief extent in Italy (the result of an love affair), he came back to Paris in 1812 to paint a baroque painting or tense like painting and they were not uncommon in his day. Besides that, his first painting was brought to life by his passion and the love of horses, this painting is known as the “Officer of the Imperial Guard”. This type of painting had a striking showing, which …show more content…

It would not be until 1819 that he would paint three of his most beautiful masterpieces, one being the Raft of the Medusa (1819, Louvre). This type of painting showed his more realistic approach, spending weeks in morgues and hospitals studying both the dead and the dying. This piece of art showed political overtones showed Gericault’s romantic and humanitarian side, as well as the anger he had toward his government and as a result the French government disapproved of his paintings and shortly afterwards he left for

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