Theodore Gericault.
The period of Goya's revolutionary and patriotic work coincides with the work of another great in France, and an early deceased romantic. It is THEODORE GERICAULT (1791—1824), author of poignant compositions, in which the dramatic elements of events observed in contemporary history and in everyday life were extracted. In scenes from the Napoleonic Wars, in the battle views, the dynamics of the tangled bodies of riders and mounts is raised to extraordinary power. When it came to choosing a topic for a picture from everyday life, Gericault always decided to present unusual phenomena and events, harrowing. He painted states of madness and diseases or tragic situations, as evidenced by the painting titled The Raft of Medusa. Based on an authentic contemporary event, the painter presented in a clear and full of extreme tension the fate of the castaways on a raft thrown by the waves. Chiaroscuro is the main means of artistic expression for Gericault, which models figures and objects with strong contrasts.