Delacroix, Eugène

(1798-1863)

   painter, naturalist, designer, lithographer

   Eugène Delacroix, whose work exemplified 19th-century romanticism and whose influences extended to the impressionists, was born at Saint-Maurice near Paris. He studied first under the French painter pierre guérin. Although trained in the formal neoclassical style of jacques-louis david, Delacroix was strongly influenced by the more colorful, opulent style of such earlier masters as Rubens and Veronese. He also absorbed the spirit of his contemporary, Théodore géricault, whose works exemplified the active, romantic themes of the turbulent post-Napoleonic era. Delacroix's career began in 1822 when his first painting, Dante and Virgil in Hell, was accepted by the Paris, Salon. He achieved popular success soon after with The Massacre at Chios (1824, louvre), itself considered a manifesto of the romantic school. In 1825 Delacroix traveled to England, and the influence of the English artist R. P. Bonington is evident in a subsequent work The Death of Sardanapalus (1828), a lavish, colorful, and dramatic painting. Delacroix also excelled in other dramatic allegorical paintings such as Greece Expiring at Missolonghi (1827), his famous Liberty Leading the People, and historic themes such as Murder of the Bishop of Liège (1831) and The Decapitation of Doge Mario Falerio (1827). His Liberty Leading the People, a semiallegorical glorification of the idea of liberty, confirmed a clear division between the romantic and the neoclassical styles of painting. Delacroix himself remained the dominant romantic painter throughout his life. In 1852, a visit to North Africa provided him subjects for a large number of canvases, including The Sultan of Morocco (1845), Jewish Wedding in Morocco (1839), and Algerian Women (1834). Such works also helped to popularize the exotic oriental style among other romantic painters. Additionally, Delacroix received many government and church commissions for murals and ceiling paintings. Many of his later, smaller paintings, especially animal pictures and marine subjects, are superb, and he also illustrated various works of William Shakespeare, Sir Walter Scott, and J. W. von Goethe. The recognized master of the romantic style, Delacroix would have an important influence on the impressionists. In his writings (Journals; Correspondence; and Notes), which are well known, he displays considerable literary talent as he expresses his views in life, art, and politics. "What is most real to me," he wrote, "are the illusions that I create with my paintings."