Eugène Delacroix

Biography of Eugène Delacroix ( 1798-1863 )

Born in Charenton-St-Maurice, in the Val de Marne, Eugène Delacroix moved to Paris in 1805, following the death of his father. Encouraged by his uncle, the painter Henri Riesner, he joined the private studio, as well as the classes at the School of Fine Arts, of Pierre-Narcisse Guérin, a French neo-classical painter and director of the Villa Medici in Rome.  There he discovers an approach to his subjects that is as classical as it is liberal. Although hostile to academism, the latter attached major importance to drawing, which he felt should take precedence over colour.

He remains deeply marked by the work of Antoine-Jean Gros, a neoclassical and pre-Romantic painter, as well as the work of Théodore Géricault, leader of the New Romantic School. Indeed, the new impulse given to painting by these two artists considerably inspired the painter, who borrowed from Géricault this singular treatment of light, this strong play of contrasts, this treatment of the modelling of figures, but it was above all his love of horses that inspired him. 

Delacroix was brought to England in 1825. Upon his return to France, he exhibited one of his most emblematic works at the Louvre: The Death of Sardanapale, inspired by the tragedy of Byron. However, the year 1832 marked a decisive turning point in the artist's career. Indeed, Delacroix met Charles de Mornay, chargé de mission to the Sultan of Morocco, who attached him to his embassy. Delacroix then embarked upon a tour of France, which he began in Toulon on 11 January 1832. He joined a mission that passed through Tangier. The painter produced a large quantity of letters and travel diaries, which enabled him to follow his six-month journey in North Africa. Morocco, Algiers, Spain... The artist is impregnated with this new aesthetic, these colors and this so singular light, which he transposes in his paintings. One year after his return, Delacroix, particularly renowned for the diversity of his subjects, was asked to decorate the King's Salon in the Palais Bourbon.

The author of La liberté guidant le peuple, declines his subjects using black stone, graphite or charcoal. Here, this ink, produced with a pen, is particularly accomplished: with an impetuous stroke, the artist manages to translate the movement with a lively and expressive line. Considered one of the main representatives of Romanticism, the travelling painter brought back a multitude of orientalist sketches from his travels.

The ardour of the painter is at the heart of this original representation of the Arab Knight, painted in ink. This subject is the preparatory drawing for one of the artist's major works, entitled Moroccan Saddling his Horse, presented at the Hermitage Museum in Saint Petersburg, Russia.