Géricault & Slavery Articles
GLM 2019-2022
Radeau de la Méduse (Raft of the Medusa) Théodore Géricault, oil on canvas, Salon 1819.
All articles by Paul Harper on Theodore Géricault and slavery by publication date. NB – check Musée français articles to learn more about Géricault’s slave-owning relations after their relocation to Paris. Each entry contains a permanent link to the article which will open in a new window.
February 2019 – Saint Domingue, Introduces Jean-Guillaume Robillard. First general discussion of Géricault’s Robillard slave-owning relations in Saint Domingue (modern Haiti). Describes health and condition slaves on the Bonnet plantation and the attack there in 1791. Map: 1725 Guillaume de L’Isle (detail), courtesy of David Rumsey Maps.
July 2019 – Saint Domingue II, Dieppe and Grand Boucan. Pierre-Antoine Robillard, based in Dieppe aided Jean-Guillaume-Robillard’s purchase of the Bonnet Robillard plantation in Saint Domingue. .
August 2019 – Saint Domingue Exodus, Death of Jean-Guillaume Robillard in 1794 in Borgne at the plantation of his nephew Louis-Nicolas-Joseph Robillard de Peronville, and discussion of the slaves identified in Jean-Guillaume Robillard’s handwritten will.
November 2019 – Robillard de Péronville & de Barras, Marriage contract formally connecting Louis-Nicolas-Joseph Robillard de Peronville and Marie-Anne-Charles de Barras, of the de Barras family of naval fame, including Paul de Barras, member of the Directory from 1795 to 1799.
March 2020 – 1785 Saint Domingue Marriage, Marriage of Charles-Stanislas Robillard and Marie-Catherine Roullit. Profiles of both.
January 2022 – André de Barras de la Villette, De Barras naval hero, Géricault relation who gave his life for France’s colonial interests in west Africa. Establishes Géricault’s personal connection to the frigate Méduse shipwreck of July, 1816. Also relation of Pierre Laurent, engraver and founder of the Musée français, the family art business with Louis-Nicolas-Joseph Robillard de Peronville in Paris in 1802.
March 2022 – 1790 Gazette of the United States, Victor Ogé, Robillard de Peronville, Borgne and the view of Saint Domingue from New York. Assembly of Saint Marc. Introduces conflict between slaves, free people of color, and whites.
April 2022 – Adelaide Sarba, – Slave of Claude de Barras and mother of Louis Sarba, Géricault’s creole cousin, and other mixed-race cousins. Island life in Limonade, Saint Domingue. Other de Barras relations.
May 2022 –1798 Étienne de Barras, Étienne de Barras, early life in Saint Domingue, naval career, and other activities.
May 2022 – 1794 Borgne, Robillard de Peronville and Marie-Anne-Charles de Barras in Borgne, Saint Domingue in 1794.
May 2022 – 1806 Charles-Joseph Robillard, Charles-Joseph Robillard introduction. His life in Saint Domingue and Paris.
August 2022 – Robillard Plantations 2022, View the community of Robillard, Saint Domingue, site of Jean-Guillaume Robillard’s plantation.
August 2022 – Marie-Catherine Mesnard, Marie-Catherine Mesnard, wife of Étienne de Barras, in Saint Domingue and America.
* Formerly titled GLM Saint Domingue Articles.