Joseph (art model)

Joseph
Portrait study by Théodore Géricault, c. 1818–1819
Born	c. 1793 French Saint-Domingue
Died	Unknown (estimated late 1860s or early 1870s) Paris, Second French Empire
Occupations	Art model acrobat actor
Years active	1819–1860s
Known for	The Raft of the Medusa

Joseph (pronounced: [ʒozef] zho-zef), also known as Joseph le nègre^[1] (c. 1793 – unknown), was a 19th-century Haitian acrobat and actor who is best known as an art model. Active primarily in Paris, Joseph is remembered for his professional relationship with the French Romantic painter Théodore Géricault for whom he served as a principal model for the painting The Raft of the Medusa (1819).

Having left Haiti in the aftermath of the Haitian Revolution, Joseph arrived in Marseille around 1804 and moved to Paris in 1808. He made a living as an acrobat and actor before being hired by Géricault sometime in 1818. After the success of The Raft of the Medusa at the 1819 Paris Salon, Joseph began to model for other contemporary French artists, including Théodore Chassériau, Horace Vernet, and Adolphe Brune.

In 1832, Joseph became one of only three male models employed at l'École des Beaux-Arts, Paris. Despite a relatively successful career, Joseph never achieved broader recognition beyond the artistic circles of Paris. Similarly to other people of color living in 19th-century France, his professional life was conditioned by the political and social consequences of French colonialism and marred by racial discrimination.