,illustration3 ,cover art               
,,masterpieces   ,,in ,,colour          
,,edited ,,by   ,t4 ,,leman ,,hare      
,,delacroix  #agih--ahfc        ,,plate 
,i4--,,the ,,entry ,,of ,,the           
,,crusaders ,,into ,,constantinople4    
,frontispiece  7,in the ,louvre7        
,painted in #ahda for the ,gallery at   
,versailles1 whence it was subsequently 
removed to the ,louvre1 this large1     
dramatic composition belongs to the     
period when ,delacroix's palette1       
inspired from the first by ,rubens and  
,veronese1 had assumed increased        
richness under the influence of ,eastern
 light and colour4  ,it is significant  
of the lack of appreciation shown to the
 master by his contemporaries1 and even 
by his supporters1 that the commission  
was accompanied by the request that the 
picture should not look like a          
,delacroix4  ,illustration3 ,,plate     
,i4--,,the ,,entry ,,of ,,the           
,,crusaders ,,into ,,constantinople4    
,delacroix   ,,by ,,paul ,g4 ,,konody   

,,illustrated ,,with ,,eight            
,,reproductions ,,in ,,colour           
,illustration3 ,title page logo         
,,london3 ,t4 ,c4  ,e4 ,c4 ,,jack  ,,new
 ,,york3 ,,frederick ,a4 ,,stokes ,,co4 
#aiaa     ,,list ,,of ,,illustrations   
,plate      ,i4 ,the ,entry of the      
,crusaders into ,constantinople 4 4 4   
,frontispiece            ,in the ,louvre
      ,,ii4 ,algerian ,women in their   
,apartment            ,in the ,louvre   
,,iii4 ,the ,death of ,ophelia          
,in the ,louvre      ,,iv4 ,the         
,crucifixion            ,in the ,louvre 
,v4 ,the ,bride of ,abydos              
,in the ,louvre      ,,vi4 ,dante and   
,virgil            ,in the ,louvre      
,,vii4 ,the ,execution of the ,doge     
,marino ,faliero            ,in the     
,wallace ,collection    ,,viii4 ,faust  
and ,mephistopheles            ,in the  
,wallace ,collection                    
,illustration3 ,delacroix               
,delacroix1 lac de sang1 hante de       
mauvais anges1   ,ombrage par un dais de

 sapins toujours vert1   ,ou1 sous un   
ciel chagrin1 des fanfares etranges     
,passent comme un soupir etouffe de     
,weber4                                 
--,baudelaire1 ,fleurs du ,ma#a4   ,i   
,to-day1 as one examines the ten        
masterpieces by ,delacroix in the ,salle
 des ,etats at the ,louvre--ten pictures
 which may without fear of contradiction
 be asserted to form an epitome of the  
art of the man who is now generally     
acknowledged to be the fountain-head of 
all modern art--one can only with       
difficulty understand the bitter        
hostility1 the fierce passion1 aroused  
by these works when ,delacroix's name   
was the battle-cry of the moderns1 when 
,delacroix was the leader of the        
numerically small faction which waged   
heroic war against the inexorable       
tyrannic rule of academic art4  ,what   
was once considered extreme and         
revolutionary1 has become what might    
almost be described as a classic basis  
of a revaluation of aesthetic values4   

,even ,manet's ,olympia1 the            
starting-point of a more recent artistic
 upheaval1 a picture which on its first 
appearance at the ,paris ,salon of #ahfe
 was received with wild howls of        
execration1 now falls into line at the  
,louvre with the other great            
masterpieces of painting4  ,it marks a  
bold step in the evolution of modern    
art1 but it is no longer disconcerting  
to our eyes4  ,and ,delacroix can no    
longer be denied classic rank4  ,to     
understand the significance of          
,delacroix in the art of his country1   
and the hostility shown to him by       
officialdom and by the unthinking public
 almost during the whole course of his  
life1 one has to trace back the art of  
painting in ,france to its very birth4  
,it will then be found that the history 
of this art1 from the moment when       
,french painting emerges from the       
obscurity of the ,middle ,ages until    
well into the second half of the        
nineteenth century1 is a history of an  

almost uninterrupted struggle between   
,north and ,south4  ,all the efforts of 
chauvinistic ,french critics have failed
 to establish the existence of an early 
indigenous school4  ,nearly all the     
early painters who are mentioned in     
contemporary documents were ,flemings   
who had settled in ,france4  ,their art 
is so closely allied to that of the     
,northern ,schools1 that it is sometimes
 impossible to establish the origin of  
pictures that are traditionally ascribed
 to ,french painters4 ,but at the same  
time1 perhaps in the train of the ,popes
 who had transferred their ,court to    
,avignon1 ,italian art began to invade  
,france from the ,south4  ,simone       
,martini's frescoes in the ,papal       
,palace at ,avignon certainly left their
 mark upon the ,school that arose in the
 ,provencal city2 and gradually traces  
of ,italian influence made themselves   
felt in an art that remained ,northern  
in its essential features4  ,there is at
 the ,national ,gallery an early ,french

 panel1 a ,scene from the ,legend of    
,st4 ,giles 7,no4 #adai71 which clearly 
shows the harmonious blending of the two
 currents4    ,,plate ,,ii4--,,algerian 
,,women ,,in ,,their ,,apartment  7,in  
the ,louvre7  ,this picture was one of  
the first-fruits of ,delacroix's journey
 to ,morocco with ,count ,mornay's      
mission4  ,it was painted in #ahcc1 the 
year after his return to ,france1       
commissioned by the ,state at the price 
of #cjjj frs4  ,the handling of the     
upright figure of the negress suggests  
,spanish influence1 and was in turn     
obviously well known to ,manet when he  
painted his ,olympia4  ,illustration3   
,,plate ,,ii4--,,algerian ,,women ,,in  
,,their ,,apartment    ,italianism      
became paramount in ,french painting    
when1 in the fourth decade of the       
sixteenth century1 ,rosso and           
,primaticcio followed the call of       
,francis ,i4 and founded the ,school of 
,fontainebleau4  ,from about #aecb right
 into the nineteenth century1 the       

official art of ,france1 that is to say1
 the art favoured by the rulers and     
encouraged by the ,academy1 was based on
 the imitation of ,raphael and the      
,italians of the decline--an art that   
was essentially intellectual1 cold1 and 
dominated by drawing and design1 not by 
colour4  ,in the reign of ,louis ,,xiv41
 when ,le ,brun became the art despot of
 his country1 the foundation of the     
,academy1 and subsequently of the       
,french ,school at ,rome1 led to the    
formulating of definite canons of formal
 beauty and of the grand style4         
,evolution on these lines was           
impossible4  ,french art was only saved 
from stagnation by the influence of     
,northern art1 from which it continued  
to derive its vitality4  ,it was saved  
by painters who1 like ,philippe de      
,champaigne and ,watteau1 had come from 
the ,north1 or who1 like the brothers   
,le ,nain1 ,chardin1 ,boucher1          
,fragonard1 and finally ,delacroix1 had 
drawn their inspiration either from the 

,dutchmen or from ,rubens and the       
,flemings4  ,during the grand century   
there are only isolated instances of    
painters who resisted the tyranny of    
academic rule and the exclusive worship 
of classic antiquity4  ,but whilst the  
professional painters meekly submitted  
to ,le ,brun's tyranny1 the revolt which
 was to transform the art of painting in
 ,france in the eighteenth century was  
heralded1 nay initiated1 in the field of
 polemic literature4  ,a fierce battle  
was waged between the traditional       
advocates of the supremacy of line and  
the champions of colour1 or rather of   
paint that fulfils a more vital function
 than the colouring of spaces created by
 linear design4  ,it was the battle of  
the ,poussinistes and the ,rubenistes1  
the two factions deriving their names   
from the great masters whose art was the
 supreme embodiment of the two opposed  
principles3 ,poussin and ,rubens4       
,felibien was the leader of those who   
espoused the cause of academic design   

with superimposed colour as a secondary 
consideration2 and ,roger de ,piles     
became the chief defender of colour as a
 constructive element4  ,the dawn of the
 eighteenth century1 and the advent of  
,watteau1 brought the signal victory of 
the ,rubenistes4  ,the pompous style of 
the seventeenth century ebbed away with 
the life of the grand monarque4 ,the new
 age demanded a new art--the graceful   
and dainty art of the boudoir4  ,at the 
very outset1 ,watteau carried the       
emotional expressiveness of pigment to a
 point where it could not be maintained 
by his followers and imitators4  ,he had
 never been to ,italy2 and though he had
 studied the works of the ,venetian     
colourists1 his art was mainly derived  
from ,flemish sources4  ,but the        
,academy continued to send its most     
promising pupils to its branch school in
 ,rome1 where they were taught to       
worship at the shrine of ,raphael and   
his followers1 and whence they returned 
to continue the tradition of the        

,school4  ,thus ,italianism did not die1
 though it became transformed by the    
ascendency of the ,rubens influence and 
by the new social conditions4           
,mythology and allegory continued to    
rule supreme in the art of ,boucher1    
which is the most typical expression of 
the ,french eighteenth century1 but they
 are adapted to the decoration of the   
boudoir1 and colour and brushwork are no
 longer subordinated to design4         
,boucher1 the most ,french of all       
,french painters1 is inconceivable      
without two centuries of the ,italian   
tradition of design and without         
,rubens's example of handling paint4    
,in the art of ,fragonard1 that great   
virtuoso of the brush1 the influence of 
,rubens becomes absolutely paramount4   
,only a few youthful failures recall his
 study of the ,italians4  ,fragonard    
witnessed the end of the ancien regime  
and the great political upheaval of the 
,french ,revolution4  ,with the monarchy
 died the sensuous art of the fetes     

galantes4  ,the painting that flourished
 in the ,napoleonic era was more formal1
 cold1 and academic than at any previous
 epoch4  ,david and his followers sought
 their inspiration in ,roman history1   
and set purity of line and the dogmas of
 the ,school higher than ever4  ,their  
idealism was of a bombastic1 rhetorical 
order2 their painting absolutely        
uninspired tinting of pseudo-classic    
designs4 ,at no period had ,french art  
sunk to such a level of dulness4  ,the  
death of ,david left his great pupil    
,ingres1 the most perfect draughtsman of
 the nineteenth century1 the undisputed 
leader of the ,school4  ,but the day of 
freedom was at hand--and the liberating 
word was to be pronounced by ,delacroix4
  ,the seventeenth-century war between  
the ,poussinistes and the ,rubenistes   
was to be resumed1 although the two     
parties were now re-christened          
,classicists and ,romanticists4  ,but   
this time the war was one of deeds1 and 
not of words4  ,ingres was the leader of

 an army2 ,delacroix fought almost      
single-handed4  ,and1 for once1 victory 
did not favour the large battalions4    
,,ii  ,eugene ,delacroix1 who was born  
on the #gth ,floreal of the year ,,vi41 
as the ,republican calendar has it1 or  
the #bfth ,april #agih1 according to our
 own reckoning1 belonged to a           
distinguished family4  ,his father1     
,charles ,delacroix1 an ardent          
,republican1 who had voted for the death
 of his king1 took a very active part in
 the political life of his country1 and 
filled successively the posts of        
,minister for ,foreign ,affairs1        
,ambassador to ,vienna1 ,departmental   
,prefect1 and ,ambassador to the        
,batavian ,republic4  ,his mother1      
,victoire1 was the daughter of ,boulle's
 pupil1 the famous cabinetmaker ,oeben1 
and was connected by family links with  
the even more illustrious ,riesener4    
,his brother1 ,charles ,henri1 achieved 
fame in the ,napoleonic campaigns1 was  
created ,baron of the ,empire in #ahaj1 

and became ,quartermaster-,general in   
#ahae4  ,the military career was also   
adopted by his other brother ,henri1 who
 fell at ,friedland in #ahjg4  ,his     
sister married ,raymond de ,verninac1   
who became ,prefect of the ,rhone and   
subsequently ,ambassador to the ,swiss  
,republic4  ,delacroix was not an infant
 prodigy4  ,he showed none of that      
irresistible early impulse towards art  
which is so often discovered by         
posthumous biographers of great masters4
  ,indeed1 his inclinations tended more 
towards music2 and at one time he       
thought of adopting a military career4  
,even when1 at the age of seventeen1 he 
left college to enter ,guerin's studio1 
he was by no means determined to devote 
himself exclusively to painting4  ,there
 was not much sympathy between master   
and pupil4  ,the impetuous youth1 with  
his keen sense of the dramatic and      
romantic1 and his passionate love of    
music1 even if his emotionalism was held
 in check by intellectuality1 felt      

repelled by the icy coldness of the man 
in whom the teaching of ,david had      
stifled any personal talent he may have 
possessed4  ,and ,delacroix soon found  
that he could learn more from copying   
,rubens1 ,raphael1 and ,titian at the   
,louvre than from ,guerin's dry         
instruction4  ,moreover1 he had the good
 fortune of gaining the friendship of   
his fellow-student1 ,gericault1 who1    
inspired by a spirit akin to that of    
,delacroix1 had already broken away from
 the tradition of the ,school1 and who  
heralded the dawn of a new era with his 
intensely dramatic and almost           
revolutionary ,raft of the ,medusa4     
,delacroix himself tells in his ,journal
 that he was so powerfully impressed by 
the intense realism of his friend's     
work1 that on leaving the studio he ran 
through the streets like a madman4  ,how
 much he benefited by ,gericault's      
example became clear when his ,dante and
 ,virgil appeared at the ,salon of      
#ahbb1 raising its author with a single 

bound to fame4  ,delacroix's mother died
 in #ahai4  ,his small heritage was     
swallowed up by a lawsuit4  ,his        
position would have been desperate1 but 
for the help of ,gericault1 who procured
 him a commission for an altarpiece for 
the ,convent of the ,ladies of the      
,sacred ,heart at ,nantes4  ,there is no
 trace of his later ,romanticist fire in
 this altarpiece1 and in the ,vierge des
 ,maisons for the church of ,orcemont1  
which dates from the same period4  ,both
 pictures are based on the study of     
,raphael4  ,among ,delacroix's intimates
 of these early days was the ,english   
painter1 ,thales ,fielding1 from whom he
 not only acquired his knowledge of the 
art of water-colour painting--then      
scarcely practised in ,france--but who  
awakened or strengthened in him the     
taste for ,english literature and       
especially for ,shakespeare and ,byron4 
,with the ,dante and ,virgil of #ahbb1  
,delacroix definitely dissociated       
himself from the frigid1 lifeless       

tradition of the ,david ,school1 of     
which ,ingres was soon to become the    
acknowledged leader4  ,that ,school of  
,ingres1 ,delacroix once expressed      
himself on one of those rare occasions  
when he broke through his habitual      
reticence concerning his critical views 
on his contemporaries1 wants to make    
painting a dependency of the            
antiquaries2 it is pretentious          
archaeology2 these are not pictures4    
,cameos are not made1 he wrote on       
another occasion1 to be put into        
painting2 everything ought to keep its  
proper place4  ,the ,dante and ,virgil  
was his first pictorial protest against 
the rule of cold classicism4  ,to-day we
 may be surprised that a picture so     
balanced in design1 so sober in colour1 
so sculpturally plastic in the modelling
 of the human form1 could have been     
considered in any way revolutionary and 
should have evoked such violent abuse as
 was showered upon it by the ,davidists4
  ,but turn from this ,dante to ,david's

 ,oath of the ,horatii and ,leonidas1   
which may be taken to typify the        
artistic standard of the time1 and you  
will grasp the full significance of     
,delacroix's bold step4  ,true1         
,gericault had already followed similar 
aims with his ,raft of the ,medusa2 but 
this astounding picture1 a record of a  
disaster which was then still fresh in  
the people's memory1 was considered     
rather as a magnificent piece of        
pictorial journalism than as a work to  
be judged by the canons of the grand    
style4    ,,plate ,,iii4--,,the ,,death 
,,of ,,ophelia  7,in the ,louvre7  ,this
 is one1 and perhaps the most successful
 of many slightly varying versions of   
the same subject1 which the artist first
 lithographed in #ahcd and painted in   
#ahch4  ,the ,louvre picture was        
executed in #ahch4 ,delacroix1 from his 
school days to his death1 was an ardent 
admirer of ,shakespeare's genius1 and   
was deeply impressed by the             
,shakesperian productions which he      

witnessed during his short sojourn in   
,london4  ,illustration3 ,,plate        
,,iii4--,,the ,,death ,,of ,,ophelia    
,the case of ,delacroix was different4  
,he had dared to bring passion and      
intense dramatic expressiveness into a  
subject taken from literature4 ,he had  
chosen a mediaeval poet1 instead of     
going back to classic antiquity4  ,and  
he had used pigment as it was not used  
by any of his contemporaries4  ,he had  
used it in truly painter-like fashion1  
making the colour itself contribute to  
the emotional appeal of the drama and   
giving to the actual brushwork          
functional value in the building up of  
form4  ,the writhing bodies of the      
,damned surrounding the boat and        
gleaming lividly through the terrible   
gloom are painted with a superb mastery 
which recalled to ,thiers the boldness  
of ,michelangelo and the fecundity of   
,rubens1 and which made ,gros exclaim1  
,this is ,rubens chastened6  ,the outcry
 raised by the ,davidists did not       

prevent the ,government from purchasing 
the picture for the not very formidable 
amount of ,l#ej4  ,the artist thus      
honoured and acclaimed a genius by the  
most competent judges was in the same   
year placed last among sixty candidates 
in a competition for one of the ,school 
prizes6  ,henceforth ,delacroix         
abstained from exposing himself to such 
rebuffs4  ,even ,gros' tempting offer to
 prepare him at his studio for the      
coveted ,prix de ,rome could not shake  
his determination4  ,he continued to    
work independently1 gaining his bare    
livelihood by caricatures and           
lithographic illustrations of no        
particular distinction4  ,he never went 
to ,italy2 and it is worthy of note that
 herein he followed the rare example of 
the two greatest painters of his        
country3 both ,watteau and ,chardin had 
kept clear of ,rome and its baneful     
influence4  ,the horrors of the ,greek  
,war of ,independence provided          
,delacroix with a magnificent subject in

 the ,massacre of ,scio1 which he sent  
to the ,salon of #ahbd4  ,here was      
indeed rank defiance of those rules of  
the beautiful in art which had been     
formulated by the ,school of ,david1 and
 which even in a scene of bloodshed and 
horror expected heroic poses and the    
theatrical grouping of the grand style4 
,delacroix had dared to depict hideous  
death in the agonised face of the woman 
with the child on the right of the      
picture1 blank despair verging on       
insanity in the old woman by her side1  
the languor of approaching death in the 
limp form of the man in the centre4  ,he
 had arranged his composition contrary  
to all accepted rules2 he had painted it
 with the fire of an inspired colourist4
  ,the glitter of light and atmosphere  
was spread over the receding landscape  
and sky--,delacroix had seen            
,constable's ,hay ,wain and two other   
works by the ,english master at this    
very ,salon4  ,they came to him as a    
revelation4  ,he obtained permission to 

withdraw his picture for a few days1    
and--so the story goes--completely      
repainted it with incredible rapidity4  
,the truth is probably that under the   
impulse of the profound impression      
created upon him by ,constable's art1 he
 added certain touches and extensive    
glazes to the background4  ,in this     
connection it is interesting to note    
that ,m4 ,cheramy1 whose magnificent    
collection includes a superbly painted  
study of the dead mother and child for  
the ,massacre of ,scio1 has bequeathed  
this important fragment to the ,national
 ,gallery1 on condition that it shall   
hang beside the best ,constable4  ,the  
,massacre of ,scio was violently        
attacked as an outrage against good     
taste1 but found a warm defender in the 
,baron ,gerard1 and was again bought by 
the ,government for ,l#cbj4  ,it may not
 be out of place here to state that     
there is but scant justification for the
 often-repeated assertion that          
,delacroix's rare genius did not receive

 official recognition until very late in
 the master's life1 and that he was not 
given his fair share of official        
commissions4  ,we have seen that1 in    
spite of the outcry raised by the       
academic faction1 the ,government       
encouraged the young artist by acquiring
 the first two pictures exhibited by him
 at the ,salon4  ,at brief intervals he 
continued to receive important          
commissions3 for the ,death of ,charles 
the ,bold1 from the ,ministry of the    
,interior2 the great battle-piece       
,taillebourg1 for the gallery at        
,versailles2 the decoration of the      
,chamber of ,deputies1 of the ,libraries
 at the ,luxembourg and the ,palais     
,bourbon1 of the ,salon de la ,paix at  
the ,hotel de ,ville1 of a chapel in the
 ,church of ,saint ,sulpice2 a          
wall-painting in the ,church of ,st4    
,denis2 the ,st4 ,sebastian for the     
,church of ,nantua2 and the ceiling of  
the ,galerie d',apollon at the          
,louvre--not to speak of the numerous   

works commissioned or bought from him by
 ,louis-,philippe4  ,thus1 it will be   
seen1 there was no lack of official     
recognition1 although it is quite true  
that to within a few years of his death 
he was generally forced to accept wholly
 inadequate prices for his paintings4   
,,iii  ,delacroix's friendship with     
,thales ,fielding and ,bonington and his
 love of ,english romantic literature   
had awakened in him the desire to visit 
,london4  ,he undertook the little      
journey in #ahbe4  ,he was much         
impressed by the immensity of ,london1  
the absence of all that we call         
architecture1 the horses and carriages1 
the river1 ,richmond1 and ,greenwich2   
and1 above all1 by the ,english stage4  
,he had occasion to admire the great    
,kean in some of his ,shakespearian     
impersonations1 and ,terry as           
,mephistopheles in an adaptation of     
,faust4  ,he was deeply stirred by these
 productions1 which had a by no means   
beneficial influence upon his art4  ,to 

his love of the stage may be ascribed   
the least acceptable characteristics of 
his minor pictures and                  
lithographs--exaggerated action1 stage  
grouping1 and a certain lack of         
restraint4  ,it is difficult to         
understand ,goethe's highly eulogistic  
comment upon ,delacroix's ,faust        
illustrations1 unless it was a case of  
faute de mieux1 or that he had not seen 
the complete set4  ,to modern eyes1 at  
any rate1 they are the epitome of the   
master's weaknesses4 ,the drawing is    
frequently inexcusably bad2 the         
sentiment is carried beyond the merely  
theatrical to the melodramatic4  ,next  
to the stage1 he was interested by the  
works of the contemporary ,british      
artists1 with many of whom he entered   
into personal relations4 ,in his letters
 he expressed the keenest admiration not
 only for ,bonington 7with whom he      
shared a studio in the following year71 
,constable1 and ,turner1 whose influence
 upon the ,french ,school he readily    

admitted1 but also for ,lawrence--the   
flower of politeness and truly a painter
 of princes 444 he is inimitable--and   
for ,wilkie1 whose sketches and studies 
he declared to be beyond praise1        
although he spoils regularly all the    
beautiful things he has done in the     
process of finishing the pictures4      
,unfortunately the principal work       
painted by ,delacroix in the year after 
his return from ,england1 the ,justinian
 ,composing the ,institutes1 for the    
interior of the ,conseil d',etat1       
perished by fire in #ahga4  ,the ,salon 
was only reopened1 after an interval of 
two years1 in #ahbg1 when ,delacroix was
 represented by no fewer than twelve    
paintings1 including ,the ,death of     
,sardanapalus1 ,marino ,faliero1 and    
,christ in the ,garden of ,olives4  ,the
 extreme daring1 the tempestuous        
passionate disorder of the design of the
 large ,sardanapalus alienated from him 
even the few enlightened spirits who had
 espoused his cause on the two former   

occasions4  ,the reception of the       
picture was disastrous4 ,delacroix      
himself admitted that the first sight of
 his canvas at the exhibition had given 
him a severe shock4  ,i hope1 he wrote  
to a friend1 that people won't look at  
it through my eyes4  ,the picture raised
 a hurricane of abuse4  ,his own        
significant dictum that you should begin
 with a broom and finish with a needle1 
was turned against him by a critic who  
spoke of the work of an intoxicated     
broom4 ,another described him as a      
drunken savage1 and yet another referred
 to the picture as the composition of a 
sick man in delirium4  ,his other       
pictures were scarcely noticed1 although
 they included a masterpiece like the   
,marino ,faliero 7now in the ,wallace   
,collection71 which ,delacroix himself  
held to be one of his finest            
achievements1 and which certainly rivals
 the great ,venetians in harmonious     
sumptuousness of colour4  ,in this      
picture ,delacroix is intensely dramatic

 without being theatrical4  ,nothing    
could be more impressive than the       
massing of light on the empty marble    
staircase1 the grand figure of the      
executioner1 the statuesque immobility  
of the nobles assembled at the head of  
the staircase4  ,the picture was        
exhibited in ,london in #ahbh1 when it  
was warmly eulogised1 which is the more 
remarkable as ,delacroix never seemed to
 appeal strongly to ,british taste--the 
scarcity of his works in our public and 
private collections may be adduced as   
proof4  ,it was on the occasion of this 
#ahbg ,salon that the terms ,romanticism
 and ,romanticists first came into      
general use4  ,their exact definition is
 not an easy matter4  ,broadly speaking1
 the romantic movement in literature1   
music1 and painting signifies the       
accentuation of human emotions and      
passions in art1 as opposed to the      
classic ideal of purity of form4        
,delacroix himself did not wish to be   
identified with any group or movement1  

but in the eyes of the public he stood  
as the leader of the ,romanticists in   
painting1 just as ,victor ,hugo1 with   
whom he had but little sympathy1 did in 
literature4    ,,plate ,,iv4--,,the     
,,crucifixion  7,in the ,louvre7  ,this 
small panel1 which forms part of the    
,thomas ,thiery bequest to the ,louvre1 
is a picture of precious quality and    
soft colouring1 painted for his friend1 
,mme4 de ,forget1 who had exercised her 
influence in official quarters when     
,delacroix endeavoured to obtain the    
post of director of the ,gobelins       
manufactory4  ,it was painted in #ahdh4 
,there are numerous replicas in         
existence4  ,illustration3 ,,plate      
,,iv4--,,the ,,crucifixion              
,delacroix's ,sardanapalus led to       
humiliations that he felt more keenly   
than the abuse showered upon him by the 
,press4  ,he was sent for by ,sosthene  
de la ,rochefoucauld1 then ,director of 
the ,beaux-,arts1 to be advised in all  
seriousness to study drawing from casts 

of the antique1 and to change his style 
if he had any aspirations to official   
encouragement4  ,the threat had no      
effect upon a man of ,delacroix's       
strength of conviction4  ,he yielded    
never an inch4  ,he continued to follow 
the promptings of his artistic          
conscience which permitted no           
concessions1 no compromise4  ,during the
 very next year1 in spite of ,de la     
,rochefoucauld's threat1 the ,state     
commissioned from him the painting of   
,the ,death of ,charles the ,bold at the
 ,battle of ,nancy 7now at the ,nancy   
,museum74  ,the picture was not finished
 and exhibited before #ahcd1 when this  
magnificently conceived scene of wild   
conflict under a threatening winter     
sky--so different from the grandiloquous
 style of the painters of the           
,napoleonic epopee--met with the usual  
chorus of disapprobation for being      
historically incorrect1 as bad as could 
be in drawing1 incredibly dirty in      
colour--the horses bad as regards       

anatomy1 the sky impossible6  ,although 
,delacroix was too completely absorbed  
in his art1 which--his one great        
passion--took up his entire life1 to    
take any active part in politics1 he was
 deeply stirred by the events of the    
,july ,revolution of #ahcj4  ,the #bhth 
,july #ahcj1 or ,the ,barricade1 one of 
the nine works by which he was          
represented at the ,salon of #ahca1 was 
an unmistakable confession of his       
political faith4  ,here1 for once1      
,delacroix found his moving drama not in
 romance or in the history of the past1 
nor in the picturesque ,east which1     
owing to its comparative remoteness and 
inaccessibility at a time that did not  
enjoy the prosaic advantages of a       
,cook's ,agency1 was still invested with
 the glamour of romance2 for once he    
devoted himself to the reality of       
contemporary life1 even though the      
daring departure into realism was thinly
 veiled by the introduction of that     
rather unfortunate allegorical figure of

 ,liberty with her clumsy draperies and 
badly painted tricolour flag4  ,the     
top-hat and frock-coat1 hitherto        
considered incompatible with a grand    
pictorial conception1 enter with        
triumphant defiance into the painter's  
art2 and they detract nothing from the  
epic grandeur of this truly historical  
composition4  ,in many ways ,the        
,barricade was more daringly            
unconventional than any of the earlier  
pictures which had stamped ,delacroix as
 a revolutionary4  ,yet its success was 
immediate and final4 ,that the artist   
was awarded the ,cross of the ,legion of
 ,honour1 was perhaps a recognition of  
his political sympathies rather than of 
his artistry4  ,but this time ,delacroix
 found favour with the public and the   
critics4  ,at the same ,salon was to be 
seen another of ,delacroix's most       
striking masterpieces1 ,the             
,assassination of the ,bishop of ,liege1
 for which he had found the subject in  
,sir ,walter ,scott's ,quentin ,durward1

 and which was painted for              
,louis-,philippe1 then ,duke of         
,orleans4  ,it is a marvellously vivid  
realisation of this terrific scene4     
,who would ever have thought that one   
could paint noise and tumult8 wrote     
,theophile ,gautier in his enthusiastic 
appreciation of this work4  ,movement is
 all very well1 but this little canvas  
howls1 yells1 and blasphemes6 ,the      
realisation of the wild and sanguinary  
orgy described by ,scott is complete and
 absolute2 and yet1 in the long list of 
,delacroix's illustrative pictures1     
there is none that is so strictly       
pictorial in conception and less tied to
 the letter of the author's description4
  ,it is not so much the detail1 the    
personal action of each participator in 
the drama1 upon which the artist depends
 to tell this ferocious tale of         
unbridled passion1 but the atmosphere of
 vague terror1 the mysterious gloom of  
the lofty hall1 the flaring flames of   
the torches1 the flashes of brilliant   

reflections thrown up from the luminous 
centre provided by the white tablecloth1
 of the importance of which ,delacroix  
was well aware when he said one evening 
to his friend ,villot3 ,to-morrow ,i    
shall attack that cursed tablecloth     
which will be my ,austerlitz or my      
,waterloo4  ,it was his ,austerlitz4    
,,plate ,v4--,,the ,,bride ,,of ,,abydos
  7,in the ,louvre7  ,a great reader of 
,english literature1 ,delacroix found   
the inspiration for many remarkable     
paintings in the works of ,byron1 who   
was one of the idols of the ,french     
,romanticists4  ,as was his wont1       
,delacroix produced several versions of 
this subject1 which shows ,zuleika      
trying to prevent ,selim from giving the
 signal to his comrades4  ,a smaller    
variant1 painted like the ,louvre       
picture in #ahdc1 and measuring only #ad
 in4 by #aj in41 realised the high price
 of ,l#abhb at public auction in #ahgd4 
,illustration3 ,,plate ,v4--,,the       
,,bride ,,of ,,abydos    ,the           

,assassination of the ,bishop of ,liege 
was painted in #ahbi1 the same year to  
which we owe that superbly handled and  
strangely fascinating auto-portrait of  
the artist at the ,louvre1 which he left
 to his faithful servant1 ,jenny le     
,guillou1 on condition that she should  
give it to the ,louvre on the day when  
the ,orleans family were to gain once   
more possession of the throne4  ,this   
event did not come to pass1 but the     
picture nevertheless reached its final  
destination by gift of ,mme4 ,durieu in 
#ahgb4  ,delacroix's strangely          
fascinating personality is completely   
revealed in this masterpiece of artistic
 auto-biography4  ,in every feature it  
recalls that famous description of the  
master given by ,baudelaire in his      
series of critical essays1 ,l',art      
,romantique3--  ,he was all energy1 but 
energy derived from the nerves and the  
will2 for1 physically1 he was frail and 
delicate4  ,the tiger1 watching its     
prey1 has less light in its eyes and has

 less impatient quivering in its        
muscles1 than could be perceived in our 
great painter when with his whole soul  
he flung himself on an idea or          
endeavoured to seize a dream4 ,the very 
physical character of his physiognomy1  
his ,peruvian or ,malay complexion2 his 
eyes which were large and black but had 
narrowed owing to the habit of half     
closing them when fixing an object1 and 
seemed to test the light2 his abundant  
and glossy hair2 his obstinate forehead2
 his tight-drawn lips to which the      
perpetual tension of the will had given 
a cruel expression--in a word1 his whole
 person suggested the thought of an     
exotic origin4  ,it is interesting to   
note how completely this vivid          
description of the mature man tallies   
not only with the painted portrait of   
,delacroix at the age of thirty-one1 but
 with another description of the        
adolescent1 left by his college friend1 
,philarete ,chasle1 who speaks of him as
 a lad1 with olive-hued forehead1       

flashing eyes1 a mobile face with       
prematurely sunken cheeks1 abundant wavy
 black hair1 betraying southern origin4 
,,iv  ,the legion d'honneur was not the 
only reward that attended ,delacroix's  
success at the ,salon of #ahca4  ,he    
received permission to accompany1 at the
 expense of the ,government1 ,count     
,mornay's mission to ,morocco1 which set
 out in ,january of the following year4 
,to visit the ,east had been the dream  
of ,delacroix's life4  ,its fulfilment  
marked an important step in the         
evolution of his art4  ,now at last he  
was brought into actual contact with    
that life and colour of the romantic    
,east which had for so many years been  
pictured by his vivid imagination4  ,he 
was away altogether about six months1   
and much of this time was spent en route
 and in ,spain which he visited on his  
home journey1 so that it was obviously  
impossible for him to undertake any     
works on an ambitious scale during his  
sojourn in ,africa4  ,but he never      

interrupted his feverish activity1 and  
brought back with him a whole series of 
sketch-books filled with pictorial and  
literary notes to which he had many an  
occasion to refer when1 after his return
 to the daily routine of his ,paris     
life1 he proceeded upon embodying his   
new experience of brilliant light1      
sumptuous colour1 and picturesque life  
in a long succession of paintings       
devoted to ,eastern subjects4           
,delacroix's ,moroccan sketch-books1    
which are among the treasured           
possessions of the ,louvre1 constitute  
one of the most interesting documents   
ever left by artist's hand4  ,there is  
always a peculiar fascination about an  
artist's self-revelations in moments    
when his mind is far away from the      
public to whom he directs his appeal in 
his finished pictures4  ,and these      
sketch-books were intended for no eyes  
but his own4  ,they contain a diary of  
his progress day by day1 vivid          
impressions of land and people1         

interspersed with accounts and notes of 
purchases1 and through all the pages run
 his swiftly sketched1 brilliant        
pictorial notes1 set down with the      
sureness of long experience and         
practice--sketches of scenery1 life1    
types of natives and animals1           
architectural details and details of    
costumes1 jotted down with any material 
that happened to be handy4  ,some are   
sketched in pure colour-washes in bold  
flat masses1 some in pencil or pen and  
ink heightened with strong blobs of     
water-colour1 others in pure outline2   
and generally they are accompanied by   
explanatory notes hastily scribbled in  
pencil4  ,throughout is to be noted the 
same swift impulsiveness and            
definiteness of purpose1 the utmost     
expressiveness obtained by the greatest 
economy of means4  ,there are some      
slight thumb-nail sketches--,i can      
recall one in particular of a galloping 
,bedouin ,arab--that verge on the       
miraculous in the sense of life and     

movement1 the summing up of all the     
essentials by means of a few strokes of 
the pen of almost niggardly paucity4    
,but infinitely more important in its   
bearing upon his future work than all   
the tangible yield of this fruitful     
journey1 was the retention by           
,delacroix's memory of the brilliant    
colour visions which had met his        
delighted eyes in the dazzling light of 
the ,east4  ,the result was an entirely 
new conception of chromatic effects and 
an infinitely more sensuous use of his  
pigments than is to be found in any of  
his earlier works4  ,before his journey 
to ,morocco1 ,delacroix1 though already 
essentially a colourist in his method if
 compared with the draughtsmen of the   
,david-,ingres ,school1 paid but little 
attention to the quality of paint per   
se4  ,colour served him to enhance the  
dramatic effectiveness of his           
compositions1 and pigment had assumed a 
vital function in the building up of    
forms2 but he was still addicted to an  

excessive use of bituminous browns and  
warm glazes and paid little or no       
attention to what the modern studio     
jargon terms the preciousness of paint4 
,with the ,algerian ,women in their     
,apartment1 which he sent to the ,salon 
of #ahcd1 he entered upon an entirely   
new phase4  ,it is painted in a rich    
impasto of luminous colours which       
sparkle in unbroken strength through an 
ambient of soft silvery grey atmosphere4
  ,the very choice of subject indicates 
a significant change4  ,in the place of 
dramatic climax or tempestuous movement 
and passion and violent emotion1 we find
 here complete repose and the indolent  
lassitude engendered by the luxurious   
comfort and by the strong scent of      
burning spices in the ,eastern harem4   
,in a subject of this kind the artist   
could allow himself to yield completely 
to the sensuous enjoyment of the rare   
and at the time entirely novel harmonies
 of pure1 beautiful colour evolved by   
his brush4  ,the superbly painted       

negress on the right of the composition 
undoubtedly owes much to the ,spanish   
masters whom ,delacroix must have       
studied during his brief visit to the   
,peninsula2 and there is as little doubt
 that she in turn became the progenitor 
of the wonderful negress in ,manet's    
,olympia4  ,indeed1 ,delacroix at this  
stage must be considered ,manet's       
precursor and source of inspiration4    
,the ,algerian ,women was a ,state      
commission for which ,delacroix was paid
 the absurdly inadequate sum of ,l#abj4 
,his indignation was great when he      
learnt that a higher value had been put 
upon a worse than mediocre picture by   
,decaisne4  ,he almost refused to       
deliver the picture1 but was eventually 
reconciled by the placing with him of a 
more important commission1 namely1 ,the 
,entry of the ,crusaders into           
,constantinople for the ,gallery of     
,versailles4  ,he was given the         
commission--but he was at the same time 
informed that the ,king wanted a picture

 which did not look like a ,delacroix6  
,this picture1 which is now at the      
,louvre1 was first shown at the ,salon  
of #ahda1 and is undoubtedly one of the 
finest works of the master's maturity4  
,one has only to compare it with ,the   
,massacre of ,scio--in many ways a      
kindred subject--to realise the master's
 prodigious advance during the          
intervening years4  ,the earlier        
picture1 in spite of its undeniably fine
 qualities1 cannot compare with ,the    
,crusaders as regards subdued splendour 
of colour4  ,delacroix himself admitted 
that the idea of ,the ,massacre came to 
him in front of ,gros's ,the            
,plague-stricken at ,jaffa4  ,j'ai mal  
lave la palette de ,gros1 was the       
wording of his own confession4  ,there  
is no trace of ,gros in the sumptuous   
scheme of ,the ,crusaders1 and the      
violent expression of his youthful sense
 of the dramatic is toned down by a note
 of sympathetic sadness in the principal
 figure1 accentuated by the             

unconventional massing of shadow over   
the group which occupies the centre of  
the composition4  ,in the year after his
 return from ,morocco1 ,delacroix was1  
largely through the influence of ,m4    
,thiers1 entrusted with the decoration  
of the ,salon du ,roi1 at the ,palais   
,bourbon1 and thus given the first      
opportunity for a display of his        
decorative genius which1 whatever has   
been said to the contrary1 was          
generously acknowledged by his          
contemporaries1 and was given ample     
scope from #ahcc to the time of his     
death in #ahfc4  ,but before discussing 
his architectural decorations it may be 
as well to sketch in brief outline the  
course of the remaining years of his    
life--a life of ceaseless productive    
energy1 interrupted only by spells of   
illness1 but otherwise strangely        
uneventful4  ,after the references in   
the preceding pages of the important    
pictures which constitute1 as it were1  
the landmarks in ,delacroix's career1 it

 would be as impossible as it is        
superfluous to describe1 or even to     
enumerate1 the masterpieces produced    
year by year by his indefatigable brush4
  ,a volume of considerable bulk would  
be needed for a mere list1 for1         
according to ,robaut's statement at the 
beginning of his catalogue3 ,eugene     
,delacroix has left about #iadj works1  
of which number #hec are paintings1     
#aebe pastels1 water-colours1 or        
wash-drawings1 #ffbi drawings1 #bd      
engravings1 #aji lithographs1 and over  
#fj albums6    ,,plate ,,vi4--,,dante   
,,and ,,virgil  7,in the ,louvre7  ,this
 is the great picture with which        
,delacroix1 then twenty-four years of   
age1 made his debut at the ,salon of    
#ahbb4  ,the dramatic power of the      
central group and the frenzied movement 
and superb modelling of the nude figures
 clinging to the boat1 caused an immense
 sensation with a public accustomed to  
the frigid classicism of the ,david     
,school4 ,unfortunately the picture is  

now badly cracked and discoloured1      
probably owing to the use of bituminous 
pigment1 which ,delacroix only discarded
 at a later period4  ,illustration3     
,,plate ,,vi4--,,dante ,,and ,,virgil   
,whether it be due to his unshaken      
perseverance on the path he had chosen  
from the very outset1 or to the waning  
interest caused by the wearing off of   
the novelty1 ,delacroix's art was now   
more readily accepted1 or1 at any rate1 
discussed without the bitterness of the 
early attacks4  ,nevertheless1 even now1
 and indeed to the end of his life1 he  
could only obtain wretched prices for   
his pictures1 and the ,academy remained 
implacably hostile1 until the special   
collection of his principal works at the
 ,international ,exhibition of #ahee    
brought him at last that general public 
applause that had till then been denied 
to him4  ,delacroix himself showed no   
bitterness to the ,academy1 and         
presented himself time after time for   
election1 his claims being invariably   

couched in terms as modest as they were 
dignified4  ,his first attempt was in   
#ahcg1 when the votes were cast in      
favour of ,schnetz4  ,two vacancies     
occurred in #ahch1 and on both occasions
 ,delacroix knocked at the doors of the 
,academy1 but ,langlois and ,couder were
 preferred to him4  ,his next attempt   
was in #ahdi1 when ,cogniet secured the 
majority of votes4  ,when he presented  
himself again in #ahec1 insult was added
 to injury1 his very candidature being  
refused6 ,time has avenged the wrong2   
the names of ,schnetz1 ,langlois1       
,couder1 and ,cogniet are all but       
forgotten1 whilst ,delacroix has become 
immortal4  ,encouraged by his triumph at
 the ,universal ,exposition of #ahee1   
,delacroix presented himself for the    
sixth time when the next vacancy arose  
in #aheg1 and this time his perseverance
 at last found its reward--he was       
elected just before he entered upon the 
seventh decade of his life4  ,but even  
now he was denied peaceful enjoyment of 

his tardy success4  ,his next           
contributions to the ,salon1 in #ahei1  
led to a renewed outburst of            
vituperative criticism and abuse1 and   
this time ,delacroix was hurt to the    
quick4  ,he decided not to expose       
himself in future to the gibes of his   
detractors1 and for the remaining four  
years of his life1 although continuing  
his artistic activity to the very end1  
refrained from contributing to public   
exhibitions4  ,the years #ahcg-ahda mark
 a fruitful epoch in ,delacroix's       
career4  ,the masterpieces that issued  
from his studio in these years would    
alone have sufficed to establish his    
lasting fame4  ,in #ahcg he painted the 
magnificent ,battle of ,taillebourg1    
which is the glory of the gallery of    
battle pictures at ,versailles1 but     
found so little favour with the jury of 
the ,salon that it narrowly escaped     
being rejected4  ,the tumult and        
confusion of hand-to-hand fighting had  
never before been rendered with such    

force and such absence of heroic        
attitudinising4  ,to the next year we   
owe ,the ,enraged ,medea1 of the ,lille 
,museum1 and that extraordinary scene of
 fitful1 jerky1 furious movement known  
as ,les ,convulsionnaires de ,tanger1   
which1 after having twice changed hands 
at public auction during the artist's   
lifetime1 for ,l#hg in #aheb and for    
,l#aafj in #aheh1 rose to ,l#aidj at a  
sale held in #ahfi1 and finally found a 
purchaser for ,l#chjj in #ahha4  ,the   
,jewish ,wedding in ,morocco1 in which  
the painter's concern with true         
tone-values and beautiful quality of    
pigment is carried even further than in 
the ,algerian ,women1 and the intensely 
dramatic ,hamlet and the                
,gravediggers--both are now at the      
,louvre--were his chief works in #ahci2 
whilst in the following year he devoted 
his energies to the large ,justice of   
,trajan 7now extensively restored7 at   
the ,rouen ,gallery1 and the powerful   
,shipwreck of ,don ,juan1 surely one of 

the most tragic and impressive pictures 
ever conceived by human genius4  ,it    
bears the same relation to the ,dante   
and ,virgil that ,the ,crusaders bears  
to ,the ,massacre of ,scio4  ,and it is 
one of the most striking instances of   
,delacroix's power to make colour itself
 expressive of the mood of the drama4   
,the conception1 though based on        
,byron's poem1 owes little to the       
literary foundation--that is to say1 it 
is not illustrative in the sense that   
acquaintance with the poem is essential 
for its appreciation4  ,it is just a    
vivid realisation of the combined       
horrors of shipwreck and starvation in  
which the tragic aspect of sea and sky  
is as significant as the ghastliness of 
the wretches whom hunger has turned into
 cannibals4  ,the sombre tonality and   
the flashes of livid light1 recall ,el  
,greco in his later period4  ,to the    
year #ahda belongs ,the ,entry of the   
,crusaders into ,constantinople1 of     
which mention has already been made4    

,at the ,salon of #ahde appeared the    
large painting of ,the ,sultan of       
,morocco surrounded by his ,guard1 which
 was bought by the ,state for the       
,toulouse ,gallery at the price of      
,l#afj4  ,baudelaire1 ever an ardent    
admirer of ,delacroix1 draws attention  
to the peculiar quality of the colour   
harmony in this picture which1          
notwithstanding the splendour of the    
tones1 is grey1 grey like ,nature1 grey 
like the atmosphere of a summer day1    
when the sunlight spreads like a        
twilight of vibrating dust upon every   
object4  ,the ,sultan of ,morocco was   
one of the last large canvases produced 
by the master1 whose best energies were 
now absorbed by his gigantic decorative 
tasks1 although he continued to paint an
 endless succession of easel pictures1  
many of which were variations of earlier
 compositions4     ,v  ,the decoration  
of the ,salon du ,roi1 which occupied   
,delacroix from #ahcc to #ahch1 and for 
which he received the niggardly pay of  

,l#abjj1 was the first great task of    
this kind entrusted to him4             
,nevertheless he knew how to adapt      
design and colour to the architectural  
conditions in a manner that could       
scarcely have been bettered by life-long
 experience4 ,and these conditions were 
by no means favourable for pictorial    
decoration1 since the walls of the      
square room are pierced all round by    
real and blind windows and doors1 and   
the lighting is about as bad as could   
be4  ,delacroix's scheme consists of    
eight large single figures in grisaille 
for the pilasters2 a continuous band1   
with figure compositions1 connecting the
 spandrils and forming a kind of frieze 
which is painted in delicate1 tender    
tones1 suggestive of faded tapestry1    
that lead up to the rich colouring of   
the eight panels in the ceiling and the 
surround of the skylight4               
,unfortunately the ceiling is not domed1
 so that the strong light filtering     
through the round glazing does not reach

 the panels and only serves to dazzle   
one's eyes4  ,it is only by shutting out
 this central light and by the use of   
mirrors that it is possible to          
appreciate the noble1 reposeful         
allegorical groups of ,justice1         
,agriculture1 ,industry1 and ,war1 which
 fill the four oblong panels1 and the   
four graceful ,cupids carrying the      
corresponding attributes in the corners4
  ,the frieze1 which is divided from the
 moulding of the ceiling by an          
ornamental band with appropriate ,latin 
inscriptions1 is remarkable for the     
masterly skill with which the design of 
the figures and groups is adapted to the
 awkward shape of the spandrils between 
the semi-circular arches1 and for the   
lucid clearness of the allegorical      
representations1 the subjects on each   
wall being closely connected with those 
on the corresponding panels of the      
ceiling4  ,thus under the ,justice panel
 are to be seen ,truth and ,wisdom      
inspiring a greybeard composing the     

laws1 ,meditation interpreting the law1 
,strength with a tamed lion at the foot 
of three judges1 and the ,avenging      
,angel pursuing two culprits4           
,agriculture is illustrated by a        
,bacchanalian ,vintage ,festival1 a     
,harvest scene1 and ,arcadian figures4  
,industry by allegorical scenes of      
,commerce1 ,navigation1 and             
,silk-growing2 and ,war by the          
,manufacture of ,arms1 and a group of   
fettered women being taken into         
captivity4  ,the heroic figures in      
grisaille on the pilasters are          
personifications of the ,atlantic1 the  
,mediterranean1 and the six principal   
rivers of ,france1 namely the ,garonne1 
the ,saone1 the ,loire1 the ,rhine      
7which then belonged to ,france as much 
as to ,germany71 the ,seine1 and the    
,rhone4  ,before ,delacroix had         
completed the paintings in the ,salon du
 ,roi1 that is to say in #ahcg1 he was  
entrusted with the even more important  
commission for the decoration of the    

,libraries of the ,chamber of ,deputies 
at the ,palais ,bourbon1 and of the     
,senate at the ,luxembourg2 three years 
earlier1 in #ahcd1 he had experimented  
in the technique of fresco painting1    
which he found more congenial than      
distemper1 when executing three overdoor
 panels of ,leda1 ,anacreon1 and        
,bacchus1 at ,valmont1 where they still 
remain in situ in all their pristine    
freshness4  ,the ,library of the ,palais
 ,bourbon has been described by a       
well-known recent ,german critic as the 
,french ,sistine ,chapel4  ,to any one  
examining this vast work in an          
unprejudiced spirit it will be difficult
 to share this enthusiasm4  ,the cool   
and noble intellectuality which is at   
the basis of ,delacroix's art1 even     
where it is apparently most spontaneous 
and fugous1 certainly renders these     
decorations supremely interesting4  ,but
 the appeal is intellectual rather than 
sensuous4  ,the beholder is filled with 
profound respect1 instead of being      

thrilled by the emotional effect of     
colour4  ,nor can this be entirely due  
to bad lighting and to the serious      
deterioration and indifferent restoring 
of the paintings1 of which scarcely more
 than the design is by ,delacroix's own 
hand1 the execution being almost        
entirely due to ,lassalle ,bordes and   
other assistants1 who are also largely  
responsible for the actual painting of  
the ,luxembourg decoration4  ,the work  
in the ,library of the ,chamber of      
,deputies consists of two hemicycles of 
,peace 7,orpheus bringing ,civilisation 
to ,greece7 and ,war 7,attila bringing  
,barbarism back to ,italy71 and twenty  
pendentives--four in each of the five   
cupolas--with connecting ornamental     
bands and cartouches4  ,in the first    
cupola1 ,poetry is illustrated by       
,alexander and ,homer's ,poems1 ,the    
,education of ,achilles1 ,ovid with the 
,barbarians1 and ,hesiod and the ,muse4 
,theology is the subject of the second  
dome3 ,adam and ,eve1 ,the ,babylonian  

,captivity1 ,the ,death of ,st4 ,john1  
and ,the ,tribute ,money4  ,law of the  
third3 ,numa and ,egeria1 ,lycurgus1    
,demosthenes1 and ,cicero2 ,philosophy  
of the fourth3 ,herodotus1 ,chaldean    
,shepherd ,astronomers1 ,seneca's       
,death1 and ,socrates2 and ,science of  
the fifth3 ,the ,death of ,pliny1       
,aristoteles1 ,hippocrates1 and         
,archimedes4  ,each pendentive depicts1 
not a single figure1 but an admirably   
composed scene of history or legend4    
,the series was commenced in #ahcg and  
completed in #ahdg4  ,the two hemicycles
 are painted in the encaustic manner    
direct upon the wall1 whilst all the    
rest is executed in oils on canvas4     
,the decoration of the ,library in the  
,luxembourg ,palace took from #ahde to  
#ahdg4  ,it consists of a fan-shaped    
hemicycle of over #cj feet in width1 the
 subject of which is ,alexander1 after  
the ,battle of ,arbela1 ordering the    
works of ,homer to be enclosed in a     
golden casket captured from the         

,persians2 and the paintings in the     
cupola--a composition in four parts but 
without division 7,dante presented to   
,homer by ,virgil1 a group of ,greek    
philosophers1 ,orpheus charming the     
beasts1 and illustrious ,romans71 and   
four pendentives1 ,st4 ,jerome1 ,cicero1
 ,orpheus1 and the ,muse of             
,aristoteles4    ,,plate ,,vii4--,,the  
,,execution ,,of ,,the ,,doge ,,marino  
,,faliero  7,in the ,wallace            
,collection7  ,delacroix himself        
considered this picture1 which was      
painted in #ahbf1 to be his masterpiece4
  ,exhibited first at the ,salon of     
#ahbg1 when ,the ,death of ,sardanapalus
 caused a veritable torrent of abuse to 
be showered upon the artist1 it failed  
to attract the favourable attention     
which its nobly balanced design1        
brilliant colour1 and intensely dramatic
 feeling would otherwise surely have    
commanded1 and which was given to it in 
the following year by the ,london       
public4  ,marino ,faliero is            

unquestionably the finest example of    
,delacroix's art in ,england4           
,illustration3 ,,plate ,,vii4--,,the    
,,execution ,,of ,,the ,,doge ,,marino  
,,faliero    ,earlier in date than the  
,library of the ,senate is the large    
mural painting in wax colours of the    
,pieta in the ,church of ,st4           
,denis-du-,saint-,sacrement4  ,it bears 
the date #ahdc1 and is1 apart from the  
passionate intensity of movement and    
expression1 and its linear rhythm1      
interesting as an instance of the almost
 incredible rapidity with which         
,delacroix proceeded upon the actual    
execution of his paintings1 once the    
scheme had taken definite shape in his  
mind4 ,according to ,moreau1 who had    
this information from the artist        
himself1 the whole painting of about #ae
 ft4 by #aa ft4 was finished in         
seventeen days1 each day's progress     
being marked by ,delacroix on the wall4 
,the decoration of the two ,libraries   
was scarcely finished when two new      

commissions of equal importance gave him
 further opportunity for the triumphant 
display of his decorative genius4  ,a   
few sketches and engravings are         
unfortunately all that is left to us of 
the circular centre1 the eight shaped   
oblong panels and the eleven lunettes   
which constituted the pictorial         
decoration of the ,salon de la ,paix at 
the old ,hotel de ,ville1 since the     
building was destroyed by fire in ,may  
#ahga in the days of the ,commune4      
,delacroix worked on these designs from 
#ahdi to #ahec1 and was only paid       
,l#abjj for the whole series4  ,if the  
labour and thought expended upon the    
,salon de la ,paix were destined to lead
 to such short-lived results1 the       
magnificent centrepiece of the ceiling  
in the ,salon d',apollon can be seen    
to-day in its unimpaired freshness--the 
most striking testimony to its creator's
 genius4  ,the decoration of this       
gallery was entrusted to ,le ,brun as   
far back as #affa2 and it was ,louis    

,,xiv4's favourite painter who conceived
 the idea of paying homage to his       
master1 the ,roi ,soleil1 by depicting  
,the ,triumph of ,apollo in the centre  
panel1 with appropriate subjects in the 
other ten compartments4  ,but his work  
was interrupted1 when he was called upon
 to supervise the decoration of         
,versailles1 before he had even sketched
 out the design for ,the ,triumph of    
,apollo4  ,the ten minor compartments   
remained neglected for over a century1  
and were allowed to get into a          
deplorable condition1 until the         
restoration was taken in hand in #ahdh1 
the painting of the great centre being  
at the same time entrusted to           
,delacroix4  ,apart from the fact that  
,apollo was to be the hero of the       
design1 ,delacroix had an entirely free 
hand1 and chose to depict the god       
vanquishing the ,python1 with ,diana1   
,mercury1 ,minerva1 ,hercules1 ,vulcan1 
,boreas1 ,zephyrus1 ,victory1 ,iris1 and
 ,nymphs as subsidiary figures4         

,although the design offends against the
 fundamental rule of all ceiling        
decorations1 that there should be no    
above and below1 and that the           
composition should be devised so as to  
be equally intelligible from every point
 of view1 one cannot but admire the     
noble co- and subordination of the      
different groups and figures1 the lucid 
clearness of the pictorial statement of 
an essentially intellectual conception1 
the astonishing colour-magic1 and1 above
 all1 the manner in which the master has
 adapted his own work to the somewhat   
gaudy and over-decorated surroundings4  
,delacroix1 says ,robaut in his         
,catalogue ,raisonne1 has here shown    
himself as great in execution as in     
invention1 and the ,apollo ceiling is   
one of the most perfect works of art    
that reflect glory upon all the         
centuries--a judgment which has been    
endorsed by two generations of artists  
and critics4  ,the ceiling1 for which   
the master was paid the sum of ,l#ifj1  

was finished in #ahdi4  ,about two      
hundred sketches and drawings for       
details of the composition figured in   
the sale held after ,delacroix's death4 
,we have seen that from the time when   
,delacroix began his work for the ,salon
 du ,roi in #ahcc until the completion  
of the ,salon de la ,paix in #ahec1 he  
had no sooner brought any of his        
monumental decorations to a successful  
conclusion when some other decorative   
work was entrusted to him4  ,and so     
again1 in #ahec1 when he had just       
finished the ,hotel de ,ville series1 he
 was made to proceed immediately upon   
that great fresco decoration of the     
,chapel of the ,saints-,anges at ,st4   
,sulpice1 which1 completed in #ahfa1 was
 his last work of real importance1 and  
is in many respects the crowning        
achievement of his great career4  ,here1
 for once1 ,delacroix found himself able
 to work under conditions similar to    
those under which the ,florentine       
masters of the quattrocento wrought     

their marvellous frescoes4  ,here was no
 complete scheme of ornate architectural
 details1 no sumptuous framework in     
which spaces had been left for the      
addition of painted panels that had to  
be treated in a more or less florid     
manner to fit into their rich           
surroundings4  ,here everything was left
 to the painter's free will1 checked    
only by the consideration of the fitness
 of the subjects for the site and by the
 architectural proportions of the little
 chapel4  ,and it is not too much to say
 that ,delacroix solved the problem in  
more masterly fashion than any painter  
between the glorious days of the        
,italian ,renaissance and the advent of 
,puvis de ,chavannes1 the greatest      
decorator of modern times4  ,like all   
true fresco decoration1 the two large   
paintings of ,jacob wrestling with the  
,angel and ,heliodorus driven from the  
,temple do not attempt to give the      
illusion of plastic life1 or of an      
opening cut through the wall1 but duly  

accentuate the flatness of the surface4 
,the scale of colour adopted for this   
admirable decoration aims1 without the  
least sense of monotony or dulness1 at  
the exquisiteness of the greens and     
greys of a fine panel of faded ,flemish 
tapestry1 and has nothing in common with
 the rich1 glowing palette which        
,delacroix had inherited from ,rubens   
and the ,venetian colourists4  ,the     
tapestry-like effect is particularly    
noticeable in the treatment of the trees
 which are so important a feature in the
 composition of ,jacob wrestling with   
the ,angel1 the figures being           
comparatively small in scale1 though by 
no means subordinate to the landscape4  
,nothing could be more impressive than  
the contrast of the terrific muscular   
exertion of ,jacob and the easy grace   
with which it is made ineffective by his
 invincible supernatural opponent4  ,the
 group is one of the noblest creations  
of modern art--worthy of the brush of a 
,pollaiuolo or a ,signorelli4  ,in the  

,heliodorus the accidents of ,nature's  
architecture are replaced by the equally
 imposing but deliberate and formal     
lines of the architecture created by    
human builders4  ,the general           
disposition of the design is not unlike 
that of the earlier ,justice of ,trajan2
 but there is this significant          
difference between the earlier work and 
the ,st4 ,sulpice fresco1 that the very 
first glance reveals the essentially    
human element in the first1 and the     
irresistible force of the supernatural  
in the second4  ,the tempestuous1       
sweeping onrush of the two flying angels
 contrasted with the calm consciousness 
of all-conquering strength expressed not
 only in the mounted heavenly messenger 
but in the very action of his noble     
horse--the horses in ,delacroix's       
paintings invariably reflect the mood of
 the drama or tragedy that forms the    
subject of the picture--are a pictorial 
conception of unsurpassed grandeur4     
,the only unsatisfactory part of the    

,st4 ,sulpice decoration is the ceiling1
 where ,st4 ,michael is depicted        
overthrowing the ,demon4  ,probably the 
execution of this oval composition was  
almost entirely the work of assistants1 
as ,delacroix's failing health1         
aggravated by lead poisoning caused by  
the extensive use of white of lead paint
 in his large decorations1 would not    
have allowed him to work under such     
fatiguing conditions as are unavoidable 
in painting a ceiling in situ4          
,,plate ,,viii4--,,faust ,,and          
,,mephistopheles  7,in the ,wallace     
,collection7  ,it was probably during   
his visit to ,london in #ahbe that      
,delacroix first realised the pictorial 
possibilities of ,goethe's great drama4 
,his correspondence shows that he was   
deeply impressed with a performance of  
,faust which he witnessed in ,london1   
and which probably suggested to him the 
series of nineteen lithographs1         
published by ,sautelet in #ahbh4 ,goethe
 himself referred to these lithographs  

in terms of exaggerated praise4  ,the   
catalogue of ,delacroix's works includes
 quite a number of paintings            
illustrative of scenes from ,faust1 of  
which the one in the ,wallace           
,collection is one of the most          
successful4  ,illustration3 ,,plate     
,,viii4--,,faust ,,and ,,mephistopheles 
,the frescoes in the ,chapel of the     
,saints-,anges were the swan-song of    
,delacroix's genius4  ,in the two years 
that followed their completion1 he still
 continued to paint and to draw--the    
practice of his art was for him the very
 breath of life--but he produced nothing
 that need be considered in the record  
of his achievement4  ,in ,march #ahfc1  
the affection of his eyes1 of which he  
had suffered intermittently for years1  
took a turn for the worse4  ,on the     
#bfth of ,may he left ,paris for        
,champrosay1 but during the journey had 
a severe attack of hemorrhage of the    
lungs1 which recurred five days later2  
and he had to be taken back to ,paris4  

,his illness became worse and worse1 and
 after a month he was taken back to the 
country1 only to be sent back again to  
,paris on ,july #ad4  ,his days were    
counted4  ,he took to his bed           
immediately upon his arrival1 and       
breathed his last at six o'clock in the 
morning on ,august #ac1 #ahfc4     ,,vi 
,how strangely ,delacroix's art was     
misunderstood by his contemporaries who1
 nurtured on the tinted cartoons of the 
ruling ,school1 stood aghast before the 
passionate utterance of the master's    
intoxicated broom1 or1 assuming the role
 of ,beckmesser1 marked with offensive  
rap of chalk on the blackboard of the   
public ,press his sins against their    
dogmatic rules4  ,in their blindness    
they even went so far as to accuse him  
of being unable to draw6  ,what seemed  
altogether to escape their perception1  
was that the fiery impulse1 the         
tempestuous elan of ,delacroix's        
romantic imagination was largely        
controlled by his cool intellectuality4 

,delacroix was a thinker and a man of   
profound culture4  ,he had1 moreover1   
the greatest respect for tradition4     
,if1 in the actual painting of his      
pictures1 he was carried away by his    
enthusiasm and worked like one inspired1
 he never started upon this the final   
stage without an enormous amount of     
preparatory sketches for every figure1  
every detail--never before the idea had 
taken firm and definite shape in his    
mind4  ,the sweep of the brush1 the     
vitalising amplifications and elements  
of movement may have been left to the   
inspiration of the moment2 but chance   
played no part in the disposition of the
 design and the arrangement of the      
colour-scheme4  ,it was that            
amplification and exaggeration of forms1
 by which alone movement can be         
expressed in art1 that led the          
unthinking to the belief that ,delacroix
 could not draw4  ,of course1 the       
application of ,ingres's standard of    
classic perfection in drawing might     

justify the conclusion1 but one need    
only glance at ,delacroix's sketch-books
 and studies to realise that he was a   
great draughtsman1 if drawing1 as it was
 to him1 is considered the means towards
 an end1 and not an end in itself4  ,and
 his mastery of spontaneous1 nervously  
expressive drawing was as complete as it
 could be1 if mastery can be acquired   
through the curbing of impetuous genius 
by half a century's methodical1 steady  
practice4  ,for ,delacroix1 from his    
early student days to his death1 never  
started on his day's work without having
 first got his hand in by half-an-hour's
 practice in sketching or drawing1 just 
as a pianist will first run through his 
finger exercises and scales1 to make    
sure of his mastery over his instrument4
  ,thus1 by unremitting practice1       
,delacroix acquired such absolute       
command of the language of line and form
 that1 in the pictorial expression of   
his ideas1 he used it as an orator uses 
the language of words--in a steady flow1

 without doubts and hesitations4  ,his  
inspiration was not checked and weakened
 by the struggle for an adequate form of
 expression4  ,there was nothing in life
 and in nature that did not stimulate   
his artistic curiosity1 and all his     
sketches betray the same passionate     
search for the really essential1 the    
elements of life and movement and mood1 
which are often to be obtained only by  
the sacrifice of literal correctness4   
,he never tired of making drawings after
 ,rembrandt's etchings1 and he spent    
many hours at the ,jardin des ,plantes1 
in the company of the animal sculptor   
,barye1 sketching and painting wild     
beasts from life4  ,indeed1 ,delacroix  
was rarely rivalled1 and probably never 
surpassed1 as a painter of animals      
either in repose or in the very frenzy  
of movement4  ,his astonishing rapidity 
of production has already been          
exemplified by his painting of the large
 ,pieta at ,st4                         
,denis-du-,saint-,sacrement in seventeen

 days4  ,an even more striking instance 
is afforded by the ,king ,rodrigo losing
 his ,crown1 now in the ,cheramy        
,collection4  ,a number of artists had  
agreed to contribute towards the        
decoration of a room in a villa taken by
 ,alexandre ,dumas pere in #ahcj4       
,delacroix was of their number2 and the 
day agreed for the completion of the    
pictures was to be celebrated by a ball4
  ,when ,delacroix arrived at midday of 
the day in question he found that all   
the panels were in their proper places1 
leaving only an unexpectedly large gap  
for his own contribution4  ,he had meant
 only to paint a few flowers4           
',listen1' said ,dumas1 ',i have just   
been reading something that will do for 
you1' and he described the first canto  
of the ',romancero1' in which ,rodrigo  
loses his crown4  ,delacroix began at   
once1 and had painted the whole scene by
 sunset1 in the most unusual colours1 a 
harmony in yellow1 unique in his work4  
,great was the enthusiasm in the evening

 when the friends saw the picture2      
,barye1 in particular1 who had          
contributed an excellent panel1 is said 
to have been beside himself4#a          
,delacroix's life1 apart from his       
struggle for recognition--a struggle    
which he fought entirely with his brush1
 leaving the controversial side to      
others--was singularly uneventful4  ,his
 only passions were his art1 his love of
 romantic literature1 and his staunch   
friendship4  ,a few journeys and        
frequent spells of illness were the only
 events that broke the even tenor of his
 life4  ,as a writer1 ,delacroix has    
left a marvellous ,journal1 which ought 
to be consulted and carefully studied by
 every artist1 and a number of carefully
 constructed magazine articles on       
various aesthetic questions1 which only 
reveal the cool intellectual side of his
 dual nature4  ,he was a man of great   
reticence1 who rarely allowed himself to
 be drawn into criticising the art of   
his contemporaries4  ,in his critical   

comments on the masters--even on those  
whose style was diametrically opposed to
 his own temperament--he always proved  
himself keenly appreciative of their    
great qualities4  ,strangely enough1    
,delacroix1 who is considered the       
leader1 and certainly was one of the    
main inspirers of the ,romanticist      
movement1 not only disliked the         
application of this term to his own art1
 but had little sympathy with the       
,romanticist literature of his own time 
and country4  ,his attitude towards     
,victor ,hugo almost amounted to        
hostility2 and he always treated        
,baudelaire1 who had espoused his cause 
with keen enthusiasm1 with the most     
calculated reserve4  ,in music his      
tastes were severely classical--he      
refreshed himself with ,mozart1 was     
never quite able to convert himself to  
,beethoven1 abhorred the modern ,french 
composers1 and was the first to condemn 
,wagner4  ,if ,delacroix1 except for a  
very brief period at the beginning of   

his career1 never suffered real poverty1
 he1 on the other hand1 never received  
adequate pecuniary reward for his work4 
,to the very end he was forced to sell  
his finest pictures at ridiculously     
inadequate prices2 and on some of his   
large decorative commissions he found   
himself actually out of pocket4  ,it was
 probably the conviction that posthumous
 justice would inevitably be done to his
 genius1 which made him insist in his   
will upon the sale of his remaining     
works by public auction4  ,and events   
proved that he was right4  ,the sale1   
which was held from ,february #af-bi1   
#ahfd1 was estimated to produce about   
,l#djjj1 but resulted in a total of     
close upon ,l#ac1ejj4  ,the instructions
 about his burial1 left by ,delacroix in
 his will1 reflect something of his     
noble aloofness and his respect for     
great tradition in art4  ,my tomb shall 
be in the cemetery of ,pere-,lachaise1  
on the height and in a place a little   
apart4  ,there shall be placed upon it  

neither emblem1 nor bust1 nor statue4   
,my tomb shall be copied very exactly   
from the antique1 or ,vignole1 or       
,palladio1 with very pronounced         
projections1 contrary to all that is    
done in the architecture of to-day4     
#a ,julius ,meier-,graefe1 ,modern ,art1
 vol4 i4     ,the plates are printed by 
,,bemrose  ,,sons1 ,,ltd41 ,derby and   
,london  ,the text at the ,,ballantyne  
,,press1 ,edinburgh       ,,masterpieces
 ,,in ,,colour ,,series    ,,artist4    
,,author4    ,,velazquez4               
,s4 ,l4 ,,bensusan4   ,,reynolds4       
,s4 ,l4 ,,bensusan4   ,,turner4         
,c4 ,,lewis ,,hind4   ,,romney4         
,c4 ,,lewis ,,hind4   ,,greuze4         
,,alys ,,eyre ,,macklin4   ,,botticelli4
               ,,henry ,b4 ,,binns4     
,,rossetti4                 ,,lucien    
,,pissarro4   ,,bellini4                
,,george ,,hay4   ,,fra ,,angelico4     
,,james ,,mason4   ,,rembrandt4         
,,josef ,,israels4   ,,leighton4        
,a4 ,,lys ,,baldry4   ,,raphael4        

,,paul ,g4 ,,konody4   ,,holman ,,hunt4 
,,mary ,e4 ,,coleridge4   ,,titian4     
,s4 ,l4 ,,bensusan4   ,,millais4        
,a4 ,,lys ,,baldry4   ,,carlo ,,dolci4  
,,george ,,hay4   ,,gainsborough4       
,,max ,,rothschild4   ,,tintoretto4     
,s4 ,l4 ,,bensusan4   ,,luini4          
,,james ,,mason4   ,,franz ,,hals4      
,,edgcumbe ,,staley4   ,,van ,,dyck4    
,,percy ,m4 ,,turner4   ,,leonardo ,,da 
,,vinci4        ,m4 ,w4 ,,brockwell     
,,rubens4                   ,s4 ,l4     
,,bensusan4   ,,whistler4               
,t4 ,,martin ,,wood4   ,,holbein4       
,s4 ,l4 ,,bensusan4   ,,burne-,,jones4  
,a4 ,,lys ,,baldry4   ,,vigee ,,le      
,,brun4            ,c4 ,,haldane        
,,macfall4   ,,chardin4                 
,,paul ,g4 ,,konody4   ,,fragonard4     
,c4 ,,haldane ,,macfall4   ,,memlinc4   
,w4 ,h4 ,j4  ,j4 ,c4 ,,weale4           
,,constable4                ,c4 ,,lewis 
,,hind4   ,,raeburn4                    
,,james ,l4 ,,caw4   ,,john ,s4         
,,sargent4          ,t4 ,,martin ,,wood4

   ,,lawrence4                 ,s4 ,l4  
,,bensusan4   ,d,ue,r,e,r4              
,h4 ,e4 ,a4 ,,furst4   ,,millet4        
,,percy ,m4 ,,turner4   ,,watteau4      
,c4 ,,lewis ,,hind4   ,,hogarth4        
,c4 ,,lewis ,,hind4   ,,murillo4        
,s4 ,l4 ,,bensusan4   ,,watts4          
,w4 ,,loftus ,,hare4   ,,ingres4        
,a4 ,j4 ,,finberg4   ,,corot4           
,,sidney ,,allnutt4   ,,delacroix4      
,,paul ,g4 ,,konody4    ,others in      
,preparation4