Les Miserables

Christie's
Jan 23, 2013 3:14PM

This black chalk and pencil, double-sided work was Jean-Louis-André-Théodore Géricault’s study for The Raft of the Medusa, an icon of French Romanticism. The life-sized piece chronicled the scandalous shipwreck that killed all but 10 of the 150 French sailors sent to colonize Senegal. The controversial subject drew attention enough to launch--and solidify--Géricault’s place in art history and the political painting remains in the Louvre.

Christie's