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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.
See: Eugène
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.