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Scene from a Deluge
Scene from a Deluge (Scène du déluge) is an oil-on-canvas painting by Anne-Louis Girodet. It was first exhibited at the Salon of 1806 and is now in the collection of the Louvre, in Paris.
Anne Louis-Girodet began studying under Neoclassical French painter Jacques-Louis David at the age of seventeen. His first painting under David’s atelier, The Death of Camila, was indicative of his Davidian training. The piece contained many traditional neoclassical features such as sharply defined lines, subdued colors, and axial symmetry. In his subsequent works, Girodet began to employ his own unique aesthetic, shifting more towards a style now known as Romanticism. In particular, Girodet’s use of melodrama and the supernatural in pieces such as Nebuchadnezzar Orders the Execution of the Sons of Zedekiah, The Assassination of Tatius, and King of the Sabines differed greatly from the traditional, non-imaginative style of David and other neoclassical artists of this time. These distinct features are especially present in Deluge, and propelled Girodet into the spotlight as a frontrunner in Romantic art.
After his painting, Ossian Receiving the Ghosts of French Heroes was widely criticized at the Salon of 1802, Girodet was resolute about triumph at a future Salon. Scene From a Deluge provided much of the success that he sought, despite being initially met with a mixed reception at the Salon of 1806.
The large-format canvas (4.41 x 3.41 meters) represents five members of the same family; they struggle to escape the raging elements of nature. The man perched on a rock hangs from a tree that is beginning to break; he tries to pull up his wife and two children, all while supporting on his back an old man who carries a purse in his hand. The sky is streaked with lightning; a cadaver floats in the agitated water.
The frightful scene has elements of the Sublime, which Girodet deployed to engage viewers. The man’s expression of terror amplifies the effect. The work thrilled, excited, and terrified the audience at the Salon.
Initial Confusion with the Biblical Flood
Despite frequent comparisons to Nicolas Poussin's Le Déluge, Girodet denied any relationship to the piece, and insisted that the painting was not a depiction of the biblical flood. In an article for the Journal de Paris, Girodet revealed that the title of the work was misprinted in the Salon catalog as “Une Scene du Deluge” rather than “Une Scene de Deluge.” Initially, critics complained that the painting lacked the “panoramic vastness” typically associated with the biblical flood. Attributing the confusion to the mistaken title, Girodet emphasized that he merely wished to illustrate ‘a sudden and partial inundation produced by a convulsion of nature’.
Meaning
Scene from a Deluge
Scene from a Deluge (Scène du déluge) is an oil-on-canvas painting by Anne-Louis Girodet. It was first exhibited at the Salon of 1806 and is now in the collection of the Louvre, in Paris.
Anne Louis-Girodet began studying under Neoclassical French painter Jacques-Louis David at the age of seventeen. His first painting under David’s atelier, The Death of Camila, was indicative of his Davidian training. The piece contained many traditional neoclassical features such as sharply defined lines, subdued colors, and axial symmetry. In his subsequent works, Girodet began to employ his own unique aesthetic, shifting more towards a style now known as Romanticism. In particular, Girodet’s use of melodrama and the supernatural in pieces such as Nebuchadnezzar Orders the Execution of the Sons of Zedekiah, The Assassination of Tatius, and King of the Sabines differed greatly from the traditional, non-imaginative style of David and other neoclassical artists of this time. These distinct features are especially present in Deluge, and propelled Girodet into the spotlight as a frontrunner in Romantic art.
After his painting, Ossian Receiving the Ghosts of French Heroes was widely criticized at the Salon of 1802, Girodet was resolute about triumph at a future Salon. Scene From a Deluge provided much of the success that he sought, despite being initially met with a mixed reception at the Salon of 1806.
The large-format canvas (4.41 x 3.41 meters) represents five members of the same family; they struggle to escape the raging elements of nature. The man perched on a rock hangs from a tree that is beginning to break; he tries to pull up his wife and two children, all while supporting on his back an old man who carries a purse in his hand. The sky is streaked with lightning; a cadaver floats in the agitated water.
The frightful scene has elements of the Sublime, which Girodet deployed to engage viewers. The man’s expression of terror amplifies the effect. The work thrilled, excited, and terrified the audience at the Salon.
Initial Confusion with the Biblical Flood
Despite frequent comparisons to Nicolas Poussin's Le Déluge, Girodet denied any relationship to the piece, and insisted that the painting was not a depiction of the biblical flood. In an article for the Journal de Paris, Girodet revealed that the title of the work was misprinted in the Salon catalog as “Une Scene du Deluge” rather than “Une Scene de Deluge.” Initially, critics complained that the painting lacked the “panoramic vastness” typically associated with the biblical flood. Attributing the confusion to the mistaken title, Girodet emphasized that he merely wished to illustrate ‘a sudden and partial inundation produced by a convulsion of nature’.
Meaning
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