Olga's Gallery


Eugène Delacroix

(1798-1863)

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            Ferdinand Victor Eugène Delacroix, the most vivid representative of French Romanticism, was born on 26 April 1798, the forth child of Charles Delacroix, Foreign Minister under the Directory and Prefecture of Marseilles. There is some reason to believe that his real father was Talleyrand (1754-1838), the famous diplomat, whom Eugene Delacroix resembled in character and appearance.
            Charles Delacroix died in 1805; in 1814 Eugene’s mother followed, leaving him an orphan at the age of 16. In 1816 he entered l'Ecole des Beaux-Art, where he befriended Bonington and Pierret.
            In 1822 his The Barque of Dante was accepted for the Paris Salon, and subsequently acquired by the state. At the 1824 Salon Delacroix presented The Massacre of Chios, a personal reaction to the genocide practiced by Sublime Porte against the Greeks. This work placed Delacroix firmly among the Romantic painters. Summer of 1825 he spent with Bonington in England, acquainting himself with English literature; made lithograph illustrations for Macbeth and Hamlet and heroes of Sir Walter Scott and Byron.
            In 1828 a series of 17 lithographs illustrating Goethe’s Faust was published. At the 1828 Salon Delacroix exhibited The Death of Sardanapalus and The Execution of Marino Faliero. In his Liberty Leading the People (28 July 1830) Delacroix expressed his emotions and understanding of the July Revolution of 1830.
            In 1832, Delacroix spent 6 months in North Africa, in the retinue of the Count Charles de Mornay, Ambassador to the Sultan of Morocco, abd er-Rugman. The life and customs of the Arabs fascinated him and were to inspire many paintings: The Fanatics of Tangier (1837-1838), The Sultan of Morocco and His Entourage (1845), The Lion Hunt in Morocco (1854), Arab Saddling His Horse (1855). In 1833-1837 Delacroix received many commissions for portraits, decorated the King's Chamber in the Palais Bourbon: Frescoes on the west wall (1833-1837). His Women of Algiers in Their Apartment (1834) was a great success at the 1834 Salon.
            In 1838-1844 he decorated the library of the Chambre des Deputes and the Chambre des Pairs in the Palais du Luxembourg, as well as the Chapel of the Holy Sacrament at Saint-Denis; he continued to exhibit at the Salon; The Shipwreck of Don Juan (1840), Medea about to Kill Her Children (1838), The Entry of the Crusaders into Constantinople (1840). In 1850-51 he decorated the ceiling of the Apollo Gallery in the Louvre: Apollo Slays Python (1850-1851). In 1855 he exhibited 48 paintings at the Universal Exposition in Paris. On his eighth attempt he was made a member of the Academy. His health worsened, he could no longer work and spent much time in the country. On 13 August 1863 he died.

Notes

The Massacre of Chios. Greece had been under Turkish occupation since the 15th century. The national liberation movement of the Greek people against the Turkish oppression started at the beginning of the 19th century. In 1821 a big uprising took place in different parts of Greece. The Turkish government in return took severe measures against the revolting Greeks, it organized Greek pogroms all over the country. In a massacre on the island of Chios, 98,000 Greeks were killed or sold into slavery. Only 2,000 people remained.
Greece on the Ruins of Missolonghi. Missolonghi was a small but strategically important city in Greece, captured by the rebelling Greeks. Unable to suppress the uprising all over the country the Turkish government asked the Egyptian army for help. The Egyptian commander Ibraghim-Pasha (son of the ruler of Egypt) besieged Missolonghi in May 1825. The city managed to resist the onslaught for almost a year. Only in April 1826, did the Turkish and Egyptian troops conquer it. All surviving defenders were executed.
See: Eugène Delacroix. The Massacre of Chios. Greece on the Ruins of Missolonghi.

Louis d'Orléans Showing His Mistress illustrates an episode from Brantôme’s Vies des dames galantes; the Duke lifts a veil from his nude mistress for the edification of his chamberlain. However, he takes care to conceal her face, for she is, in fact, the chamberlain's wife.
See: Eugène Delacroix. Louis d'Orléans Showing His Mistress.

Liberty Leading the People. With this painting Delacroix responded to the July revolution of 1830 against Charles X (king of France 1824-30) and absolutism in France, which finished with serious democratic reforms. As a result the new 'citizen king' Louis-Phillippe was elected and his power was restricted; France became a bourgeois monarchy. Delacroix wrote to his brother, a general: ‘Since I have not fought and conquered for the fatherland, I can at least paint on its behalf.’ To the left of Liberty, a man wearing a top hat, is Delacroix himself. The boy with pistols on the right was perhaps the inspiration for the character of Gavroche in Victor Hugo’s Les Misérables. The new king Louis-Phillippe bought the work for 3,000 francs, but never exhibited it.
See: Eugène Delacroix. Liberty Leading the People (28 July 1830).

The Fanatics of Tangier. Delacroix offered an explanation of the subject in his brochure for the 1838 Salon: “These fanatics are called Issaouis, after their founder Ben Issa. At certain times of year, they meet outside towns; then, their enthusiasm excited by prayers and wild cries, they enter into a veritable state of intoxication, and, spreading through the streets, perform a thousand contortions, and even dangerous acts.”
See:  Eugène Delacroix. The Fanatics of Tangier.

Frederick Chopin (1810-1849) Polish composer and pianist, born near Warsaw. In 1831, he came to Paris, where he became famous. In 1836, he was introduced to George Sand (Madame Dudevant), he remained with her until his death in 1849. He died from consumption.
SeeEugène Delacroix. Frédéric Chopin.
Henryk Siemiradzki. Chopin Performing in the Guest-Hall of Anton Radziville in Berlin in 1829.

George Sand (pen name of Amandine Aurore Lucie Dupin, Baronne Dudevant), (1804–1876), French novelist, born in Paris. Her complete works are over 100 volumes; among them are Indiana, Valentine, Consuelo. In 1836-49 she was a mistress of Chopin.
See:  Eugène Delacroix. George Sand.

Cleopatra (69-30 BC) queen of Egypt, the last and most famous of the Macedonian dynasty of the Ptolemies, put on the throne by Julius Caesar. Defeated by Augustus, Mark Antony, her lover and commander of military forces, committed suicide. Cleopatra followed him by causing a snake to bite her breast.
See: Eugène Delacroix. Cleopatra and the Peasant.

The Entry of the Crusaders into Constantinople. The Western Christian authorities did not trust the Eastern Church; in order to punish the Eastern Christians into submission, crusaders were allowed to attack Constantinople, the capital of Byzantium, which was captured and ransacked in 1204.
See:  Eugène Delacroix. The Entry of the Crusaders into Constantinople.

Frederic Villot (1809-1875) one of the closest friends of Delacroix. Since 1848 he was keeper of the paintings in the Louvre.
See:  Eugène Delacroix. Portrait of Frederic Villot.

<>Bibliography:
Eugène Delacroix. by Ye.Kozhina. Moscow. 1961. (in Russian)
Delacroix. by A.Gastev. Moscow. 1966. (in Russian)
Delacroix. by Barthélémy Jobert. Editions Gallimard, 1997.
Delacroix les dernières années. Réunion des Musées Nationaux. Paris. 1998.
Painting of Europe. XIII-XX centuries. Encyclopedic Dictionary. Moscow. Iskusstvo. 1999.
The Journal of Eugene Delacroix: A Selection (Arts & Letters) by Eugene Delacroix, Hubert Wellington (Editor), Lucy Norton (Translator). Phaidon Press Inc., 1995.
Delacroix by Barthelmy Jobert, Eugene Delacroix, Terry Grabar (Translator). Princeton Univ Pr, 1998.
The Cambridge Companion to Delacroix (Cambridge Companion to the History of Art) by Beth Segal Wright (Editor). Cambridge Univ Pr, 2001.
Delacroix: The Late Work by Eugene Delacroix, Vincent Pomarde, Arlette Serullaz, Joseph J. Rishel, Louis-Antoine Prat, David Loit. Thames & Hudson, 1998.
Delacroix Pastels by Lee Johnson. George Braziller, 1995.
A Century of Artists' Letters: Notes to Family, Friends, & Dealers, 1855-1968 : Delacroix to Leger by Jacqueline Albert Simon, Lucy D. Rosenfeld. Schiffer Publishing,  2004.
Eugene Delacroix: The Graphic Work a Catalogue Raisonne by Loys Delteil, Susan Strauber. Alan Wofsy Fine Arts, 1996.
The Paintings of Eugene Delacroix: A Critical Catalogue, 1832-1863 (Movable Pictures and Private Decorations, Volumes III and IV) by Lee Johnson. Oxford University Press, 1987.

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