Geil! Eine meiner Lieblingsstellen aus einem Buch von Julian Barnes geht über genau dieses Bild:
„There are twenty figures on board. Two are actively waving, one actively pointing, two vigorously supplicating, plus one offering muscular support to the hailing figure on the barrel: six in favour of hope and rescue. Then there are five figures who look either dead or dying, plus an old greybeard with his back to the sighted A r g u s in a posture of mourning: six against. In between (we measure space as well mood) there are eight more figures: one half-supplicating, half-supporting; three watching the hailer with non-committal expressions; one watching the hailer agonizingly; two in profile examining, respectively, waves past and waves to come; plus one obscure figure in the darkest, most damaged part of the canvas, with head in hands (and claving at his scalp?). Six, six and eight: no overall majority.
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Twenty? queries the informed eye. But Savigny and Corréad said there were only fifteen survivors. So all those five figures who might only be unconcious are definetly dead? Yes. But then what about the culling which took place, when the last fifteen healthy survivors pitched their thirteen wounded comrades into the sea? Géricault has dragged some of them back from the deep to help out with his composition. And should the dead lose their vote in the referendum over hope versus despair? Technically, yes; but not in assessing the mood of the picture.“ - J u l i a n B a r n e s , A History of the World in 10 1/2 Chapters