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Tom Gurney BSc (Hons) is an art history expert with over 20 years experience
Published on June 19, 2020 / Updated on October 30, 2026
Email: tomgurney1@gmail.com / Phone: +44 7429 011000

Eugène Delacroix Paintings: Introduction

Eugène Delacroix’s paintings reward comparison. A crowd advancing towards the viewer, a ruler watching violence from a distance and a poet receiving hospitality beneath mountains demand different kinds of attention. Following the arrangement of bodies, colour and space across these subjects reveals both his range and the choices that give each work its force. The date, scale and surviving format of a particular painting are part of that encounter.

At a Glance

  • ExamplesFrom The Barque of Dante, 1822, to Tiger and Snake, 1862 [1][2]
  • FormatsEasel paintings and architectural decoration [3][4]
  • VersionsOvid: National Gallery, 1859; Met, 1862 [5][6]
  • Object historyChopin survives as a fragment of a double portrait [7]

Contents

  1. Liberty: colour given direction
  2. History painting can begin in a poem
  3. Chios and Sardanapalus: two distributions of violence
  4. Travel remembered and authority staged
  5. A portrait’s boundaries matter
  6. Ovid: the same subject, a changed balance
  7. Small animals and paintings made for buildings
  8. What later painters took from Delacroix
  9. Annotated details

Liberty: colour given direction

In Liberty Leading the People, the flag arrives before almost anything else. Its red, white and blue open against the smoke above a woman stepping across a barricade. Below her, men and a boy carry weapons; lower still, bodies lie across the ground. The painting concerns the July Revolution of 1830, rather than the Revolution of 1789. Delacroix painted it between September and December 1830 and exhibited it at the Salon in 1831. The painting brings a recent event into the concentrated space of a history painting.[8]

The crowd seems to come towards us, but its movement depends on a carefully articulated structure. Liberty’s raised arm carries the eye up to the flag. Her other arm and the upright weapons help brace the advancing group. Heads rise above the horizontal barrier of the dead, while the rubble makes every step an effort. The pale shirt and exposed body at the bottom left interrupt any easy reading of the march as an uncomplicated triumph. The painting gives the advance force by making its cost occupy the foreground.

Colour works through that arrangement. The flag is the clearest statement of the national colours, yet blue clothing, red accents and pale fabric carry those colours down into the people. Smoke partly dissolves the distance while the principal figures remain legible. Liberty’s bare feet, exposed breast and drapery distinguish her from the contemporary clothing around her. An allegory has entered the same physical space as armed Parisians: she has symbolic authority, but she must also step over the barricade.

This is a useful beginning for looking at Eugène Delacroix’s paintings. Their excitement involves decisions about where bodies stand, how much room surrounds them and which directions bind them together. Drawing, colour and composition cooperate. The same painter who makes a crowd advance can hold a group in exhausted stillness, place a ruler at a disturbing distance from violence, or spread small acts of hospitality beneath a mountain landscape. Comparing those decisions reveals more than describing every canvas as passionate.

History painting can begin in a poem

Delacroix’s early subjects already resist a division between recorded events and imaginative literature. The Barque of Dante, dated 1822 and acquired at that year’s Salon, takes its subject from Dante’s poem. A literary episode could therefore occupy the ambitious scale and public setting of history painting.[1] The term need not mean a reconstruction of something that had happened in the recent past. It can include a narrative inherited from poetry, religion or the ancient world, given visible bodies and a setting.

That breadth is important when moving from The Barque of Dante to The Massacre at Chios. The latter addresses contemporary suffering. Delacroix worked on the canvas from January to July 1824 and showed it at the Salon that year. The fuller title recorded by the Louvre identifies Greek families awaiting death or enslavement.[9] Its subject does not produce the forward momentum of Liberty. Instead, the foreground holds people who seem unable to bring their separate movements into a common action.

Across the lower part of Chios, seated and reclining figures form an uneven row. A child presses against a woman at the left edge; at the lower right another child bends towards a reclining woman. Between these groups, a man’s bare torso, a bowed head and a seated woman’s lifted face offer different points of attention. The eye moves sideways from one exposed body to another. There is no commanding central figure who gathers these people into an effective response.

Above them, an unusually large stretch of sky makes their vulnerability more pronounced. The foreground is crowded, yet the painting as a whole is open. A mounted figure at the right introduces a sharply different height and energy: the horse’s raised legs and the rider’s elevated position disturb the low arrangement of the families. Distant smoke and small figures extend the violence beyond the people nearest us. The painting makes suffering both immediate and dispersed. We confront individual gestures without being given a single incident that explains everything in view.

Chios and Sardanapalus: two distributions of violence

Place The Massacre at Chios beside The Death of Sardanapalus and their differences become as striking as their shared violence. The Louvre’s Sardanapalus was painted in 1827 and appeared during the later part of the 1827–28 Salon, from February 1828. Its imagined royal catastrophe belongs to a literary world. It should also be distinguished from Delacroix’s later, smaller treatment of the subject.[10]

Where Chios opens above its foreground figures, Sardanapalus packs the picture with bodies, textiles, ornaments and equipment. The great red bed cuts diagonally through the scene. At its upper left, the reclining king remains relatively remote; towards the lower right, a standing woman’s pale body and the man restraining her bring violence close to the picture’s edge. A horse thrusts into the lower left. Bright surfaces and overlapping limbs repeatedly interrupt the eye’s passage across the canvas.

The bed provides the principal route through this density. Its red covering joins areas of the picture that might otherwise break into separate episodes. The king’s white drapery and the pale figures below make a descending sequence across it. Yet following that sequence does not resolve the disorder into a single action. Heads turn in different directions, arms reach across bodies, and objects accumulate near the bottom edge. The composition permits an overall reading while continually drawing us into particular collisions.

The contrast with Chios concerns the viewer’s position as much as the amount of movement. In Chios, the foreground people meet us across a shallow stretch of ground, with the landscape continuing behind them. In Sardanapalus, the piled forms press into our space while the ruler remains removed. We must look from the commanding figure to the violence beneath him. His distance is part of the painting’s disturbing organisation; the victims’ exposed proximity is another.

These canvases also show why rich colour cannot adequately explain Delacroix on its own. Red gains its force in Sardanapalus from the size and angle of the bed, from the pale bodies against it and from the dark passages surrounding it. In Chios, the sky changes the weight of the entire scene. The emotional differences arise from the distribution of space and attention as well as from individual expressions.

Literary invention continued alongside such responses to recent events. The Natchez was begun in 1823–24 and taken up again in 1835. Its source is Chateaubriand’s fiction, with a narrative involving Indigenous people and French colonial violence.[11] Those separate periods of work complicate any simple progression from an early literary phase to a later interest in the wider world. The Natchez also requires a different kind of historical caution: a painting based on a French author’s imagined narrative cannot serve as an unmediated record of Indigenous life.

Scenes from the Massacres at Chios, 1824. Musée du Louvre; INV 3823. Vulnerable figures spread across the lower foreground.
Scenes from the Massacres at Chios, 1824. Musée du Louvre; INV 3823. Vulnerable figures spread across the lower foreground. Image source. Public domain.

The Death of Sardanapalus, 1827. Musée du Louvre; RF 2346. The reclining king remains at the upper left above the crowded diagonal.
The Death of Sardanapalus, 1827. Musée du Louvre; RF 2346. The reclining king remains at the upper left above the crowded diagonal. Image source. CC0 / Public domain.

Travel remembered and authority staged

Delacroix’s journey to North Africa in 1832 supplied encounters and studies to which he could return long afterwards. He accompanied a French diplomatic mission to Morocco following France’s invasion of Algeria in 1830. A surviving study for the sultan composition belongs to 1832–33.[12] The diplomatic setting is essential context. It places the artist’s opportunity to observe within a particular political encounter, rather than treating the journey as unrestricted access to another society.

The finished Moulay Abd-er-Rahman, Sultan of Morocco, Leaving His Palace at Meknes, Surrounded by His Guard and Principal Officers dates from 1845. The Toulouse painting is an oil on canvas measuring 384 × 344 cm, shown at the Salon that year.[13] Its scale alone separates it from a portable travel study. More than a decade after the journey, a remembered encounter has become a large, deliberately ordered public image.

In the Sultan of Morocco, the ruler in white sits slightly left of centre on a grey horse. The horse’s head occupies the central foreground, while a large parasol opens high to the left. Around the ruler, darker cloaks and differently coloured garments divide the surrounding figures into readable groups. Behind them, the long wall and ranks of upright weapons establish a measured enclosure. The broad blue sky gives the parasol a particularly clear silhouette.

The arrangement creates an audience at a distance. People stand close together, but they leave the ruler distinct. The horse projects towards the viewer while the guard and wall maintain a boundary behind it. Compare the vertical weapons here with those in Liberty: one painting uses them within a crowd breaking forwards, the other within an ordered assembly around sovereign authority. A similar pictorial element helps produce very different relations between figures and viewer.

Costume and architecture make the scene specific, but specificity is not a guarantee that every detail supplies exact historical documentation. The painting selects a viewpoint and organises a ceremonial appearance. Its political circumstances belong to its meaning, while any claim about Delacroix’s precise motive for a particular alteration requires evidence beyond the appearance of the finished canvas.

The Louvre’s Women of Algiers belongs to 1834.[14] It is a different object from the 1849 Musée Fabre painting associated with the Women of Algiers in Their Apartment title. Keeping those dates and collections separate prevents a later treatment from silently standing in for an earlier one. Algeria and Morocco likewise remain distinct places within the journey and its aftermath. These pictures ask us to consider how observed material becomes a composition, and how a French painter’s selection shapes what a subsequent audience is invited to see.

The Sultan of Morocco, 1845. Musée des Augustins, Toulouse; 2004 1 99. The mounted ruler and parasol organise the ceremonial gathering.
The Sultan of Morocco, 1845. Musée des Augustins, Toulouse; 2004 1 99. The mounted ruler and parasol organise the ceremonial gathering. Didier Descouens, 26 November 2017, via Wikimedia Commons; Musée des Augustins. Image source. CC BY-SA 4.0. Resized only; native appearance preserved.

Explore Delacroix on video

An artist overview and a closer look at Liberty Leading the People.

Eugene Delacroix Paintings

TheHistoryOfArt

An overview of Delacroix’s paintings from TheHistoryOfArt.

Watch on YouTube

A portrait’s boundaries matter

Portraiture offers another way into Delacroix’s decisions about scale. Louis-Auguste Schwiter, painted in 1826–30, presents a full-length sitter on a canvas more than two metres high. The National Gallery relates its conception to Delacroix’s admiration for Thomas Lawrence and records Paul Huet’s contribution to the landscape. The portrait was rejected by the Salon of 1827 and later belonged to Edgar Degas.[15] This history places portrait painting within Delacroix’s exchanges with other artists, rather than treating it as an isolated exception to his narrative subjects.

The Portrait of Baron Schwiter allows a person’s presence to develop through a whole figure and an extended setting. The surviving Frédéric Chopin raises a different question: how much of a composition are we actually seeing? The Louvre dates it to 1838 and gives its present dimensions as 46 × 38 cm. It is a fragment of an unfinished painting that included George Sand, cut apart between 1863 and 1874.[7]

That physical history changes the comparison. The compact Chopin portrait cannot simply be described as Delacroix choosing a small, independent format to oppose Schwiter’s full-length scale. Its boundaries partly result from a later intervention. What now appears self-contained once belonged to a relationship between two sitters. Although the exact original arrangement remains uncertain, its existence prevents us from mistaking the surviving piece for the whole conception.

A painting’s present frame thus defines more than the edge of a reproduction. It may preserve the artist’s chosen field, or it may conceal a lost connection. Looking at Delacroix involves the history of objects as well as the stories represented within them.

Frédéric Chopin, 1838. Musée du Louvre; RF 1717. Its present boundaries result from the cutting of the unfinished double portrait.
Frédéric Chopin, 1838. Musée du Louvre; RF 1717. Its present boundaries result from the cutting of the unfinished double portrait. Shonagon, faithful reproduction via Wikimedia Commons. Image source. Public domain. Resized only; native appearance preserved.

Ovid: the same subject, a changed balance

Two late treatments of Ovid among the Scythians make a particularly revealing comparison. The National Gallery’s version dates from 1859 and measures 87.6 × 130.2 cm. It depicts the exiled Roman poet receiving hospitality, with food and milk offered by the people around him.[5] The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s 1862 version is much smaller, 32.1 × 50.2 cm, and is painted in oil on paper laid down on wood.[6] Their shared subject does not make their dimensions, supports or effects interchangeable.

In the 1859 painting, mountains and water occupy much of the view. The mountain mass rises beyond a quiet band of lake; the people inhabit the lower landscape rather than dominating it. Ovid, in white and blue, reclines left of centre. A boy and dog stand nearby. Figures gather towards him, while at the right a large dark mare stands over a kneeling milker. The distance between these activities leaves room for patches of ground, a tent, smaller figures and the landscape’s receding contours.

This is a scene of several modest actions held within an expansive setting. The boy’s attention, the offering near Ovid and the milking form separate exchanges. The water behind them introduces a quieter horizontal passage, and the mountains carry the eye well beyond the immediate encounter. The mare has considerable visual weight, but that weight belongs within a composition whose upper reaches remain largely free of human activity.

The 1862 treatment brings the gathering closer. Although the object itself is smaller, the figures occupy more of its painted field. Ovid’s blue drapery spreads prominently across the lower left; the people bringing provisions form a more substantial central group. The woman carrying a tray, the mother and child, the kneeling figure and the milker create a sequence across the foreground. The dark mare again anchors the right, with a vessel near the bottom edge and two seated men beyond.

Water and mountains remain, but their share of our attention has changed. The human encounter now extends higher into the picture. In the earlier work, the eye can linger in the large interval between the foreground and the distant slopes; in the later one, it returns more insistently to bodies, gestures and offerings. The subject survives the revision, while its balance between human company and surrounding country shifts.

Neither painting needs to be ranked as the successful original and an inferior repetition. Nor does a difference in proportion prove that the later treatment was a correction imposed on a failed first attempt. The comparison is valuable because it exposes choices: how large should a figure be within a landscape, how close should an act of kindness seem, and how much space should remain beyond it? Ovid among the Scythians gives Delacroix room to explore those questions through a subject far removed from the crowded violence of Sardanapalus.

Ovid among the Scythians, 1859, oil on canvas. National Gallery, London; NG6262. Landscape occupies much of the composition.
Ovid among the Scythians, 1859, oil on canvas. National Gallery, London; NG6262. Landscape occupies much of the composition. National Gallery, London, via Wikimedia Commons. Image source. Public domain. Resized only; native appearance preserved.

Ovid among the Scythians, 1862, oil on paper laid down on wood. The Metropolitan Museum of Art; 2008.101. Figures occupy a larger share of the later composition.
Ovid among the Scythians, 1862, oil on paper laid down on wood. The Metropolitan Museum of Art; 2008.101. Figures occupy a larger share of the later composition. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Open Access. Image source. CC0 / Public domain. Resized only; native appearance preserved.

Small animals and paintings made for buildings

Late Delacroix also includes animal subjects on an intimate scale. The National Gallery of Art’s Tiger and Snake, dated 1862, measures 33.02 × 41.28 cm.[2] That particular painting should be identified separately from the various lion hunts. Its dimensions are a useful reminder that the apparent size of a digital image can disguise a substantial difference between objects. A small animal painting and a canvas several metres across establish very different conditions for looking, even when both can fill the same screen.

At Saint-Sulpice, painting belongs to an architectural ensemble. Delacroix received the chapel commission in April 1849; the Chapel of the Holy Angels was inaugurated in 1861. Jacob Wrestling with the Angel and Heliodorus Driven from the Temple occupy the walls, with Saint Michael on the ceiling. The wall paintings use a mixture of oil and wax; the ceiling is oil on canvas attached to the architectural surface. Calling the entire scheme fresco obscures those material distinctions.[3]

The two wall subjects belong to a space through which a viewer moves and looks upwards or across. The City of Paris’s account draws attention to a correspondence between the tree in Jacob Wrestling with the Angel and the column in Heliodorus Driven from the Temple.[3] That institutional reading is a useful invitation to consider the paintings together. Each scene has its own narrative, but the chapel also sets one against another within a common building.

State commissions supplied a further setting. Delacroix received the Salon du Roi commission at the Palais Bourbon in 1833; it was inaugurated in 1838. The library decoration, completed in 1847 with assistants, occupied five cupolas and two end hemicycles. The Assemblée nationale describes its programme through opposed scenes of Orpheus bringing the arts and Attila spreading destruction.[4] Here the organisation extends beyond any single framed picture into a sequence distributed through a room.

Salon exhibition, church chapel and parliamentary library therefore imply different encounters. A canvas presented among other exhibits has one context; a narrative fixed within a religious or governmental interior has another. Patronage and location help determine what surrounds the painting, where a viewer can stand and how separate scenes are connected. Public commission does not mean that every work has always been accessible to every viewer.

What later painters took from Delacroix

Delacroix’s afterlife can be approached through specific acts of looking and remaking. The National Gallery’s 2016 exhibition Delacroix and the Rise of Modern Art brought together Manet’s copy of The Barque of Dante, Renoir’s copy of Jewish Wedding in Morocco and Van Gogh’s Pietà after Delacroix. Its wider argument traced his importance into modern painting.[16] The copies provide concrete evidence of sustained attention: later artists chose particular compositions to work through. They do not make every subsequent movement the inevitable outcome of his example.

For a first comparison, return to Liberty, Chios and Sardanapalus. Follow the principal directions before reading individual expressions: upwards to a flag, sideways through exhausted people, diagonally along a red bed. Then turn to the two Ovid paintings and watch the balance change between figures and landscape. Ask whether the narrative begins in a recent event, a literary text or a religious story. Check the date and collection when a title has more than one version, and the physical history when a portrait survives as a fragment. Delacroix’s range becomes clearer through these differences. His paintings can gather, scatter, advance or hold still; their power lies in the particular order each gives to what we see.

Browse the Paintings

Liberty Leading the People Eugene Delacroix
Liberty Leading the People
Death of Sardanapalus Eugene Delacroix
Death of Sardanapalus
Massacre at Chios Eugene Delacroix
Massacre at Chios
Women of Algiers Eugene Delacroix
Women of Algiers
Barque of Dante Eugene Delacroix
Barque of Dante
Orphan Girl at the Cemetery Eugene Delacroix
Orphan Girl at the Cemetery
Lion Hunt Eugene Delacroix
Lion Hunt
Christ on the Sea of Galilee Eugene Delacroix
Christ on the Sea of Galilee
Shipwreck of Don Juan Eugene Delacroix
Shipwreck of Don Juan
Arabs Skirmishing in the Mountains Eugene Delacroix
Arabs Skirmishing in the Mountains
Arab Horses Fighting in a StableEugene Delacroix
Arab Horses Fighting in a Stable
Cromwell at Windsor Castle Eugene Delacroix
Cromwell at Windsor Castle
Entry of the Crusaders in ConstantinopleEugene Delacroix
Entry of the Crusaders in Constantinople
Frederic Chopin Eugene Delacroix
Frederic Chopin
Greece on the Ruins of Missolonghi Eugene Delacroix
Greece on the Ruins of Missolonghi
Hamlet and Horatio in the Cemetery Eugene Delacroix
Hamlet and Horatio in the Cemetery
Horse Frightened by Lightning Eugene Delacroix
Horse Frightened by Lightning
Jewish Wedding in Morocco Eugene Delacroix
Jewish Wedding in Morocco
Mademoiselle Rose Eugene Delacroix
Mademoiselle Rose
Medea Eugene Delacroix
Medea
Michelangelo in his Studio Eugene Delacroix
Michelangelo in his Studio
Macbeth and the Witches Eugene Delacroix
Macbeth and the Witches
Self Portrait as Hamlet Eugene Delacroix
Self Portrait as Hamlet
The Italian Theatre Eugene Delacroix
The Italian Theatre
A Corner of the Studio Eugene Delacroix
A Corner of the Studio
A Moroccan Saddling a Horse Eugene Delacroix
A Moroccan (Arab) Saddling a Horse
A Mortally Wounded Brigand Quenches his Thirst Eugene Delacroix
A Mortally Wounded Brigand Quenches his Thirst
A Turkish Man on a Grey Horse Eugene Delacroix
A Turkish Man on a Grey Horse
African Pirates Abducting a Young Woman Eugene Delacroix
African Pirates Abducting a Young Woman
An Arab Horseman at the Gallop Eugene Delacroix
An Arab Horseman at the Gallop
Attila the Hun Eugene Delacroix
Attila the Hun
Bouquet of Flowers 1843 Eugene Delacroix
Bouquet of Flowers 1843
Bouquet of Flowers 1850 Eugene Delacroix
Bouquet of Flowers, 1849
Charles VI and Odette de Champdivers Eugene Delacroix
Charles VI and Odette de Champdivers
Christ on the Cross Eugene Delacroix
Christ on the Cross
Christ on the Lake of Gennezaret Eugene Delacroix
Christ on the Lake of Gennezaret (Christ Asleep during the Tempest)
Cleopatra and the Peasant Eugene Delacroix
Cleopatra and the Peasant
Cliffs Near Dieppe Eugene Delacroix
Cliffs Near Dieppe
Combat between the Giaour and the Pasha Eugene Delacroix
Combat between the Giaour and the Pasha
Head of a Woman Eugene Delacroix
Head of a Woman
Fanatics of Tangier Eugene Delacroix
Fanatics of Tangier
Head of a Woman in a Red Turban Eugene Delacroix
Head of a Woman in a Red Turban
Jewish Bride Eugene Delacroix
Jewish Bride
Leon Riesener Eugene Delacroix
Leon Riesener
Lion Hunt in Morocco Eugene Delacroix
Lion Hunt in Morocco
Lion Rending Apart a Corpse Eugene Delacroix
Lion Rending Apart a Corpse
Massacre of Chios Watercolour 1820 Eugene Delacroix
Massacre of Chios Watercolour 1820
Milton Dictated to his Daughters the Paradise Lost Eugene Delacroix
Milton Dictated to his Daughters the Paradise Lost
Moroccan Fantasia Eugene Delacroix
Moroccan Fantasia
Moroccan Horseman Crossing a Ford Eugene Delacroix
Moroccan Horseman Crossing a Ford
Pieta Eugene Delacroix
Pieta
Portrait of Baron Schwiter Eugene Delacroix
Portrait of Baron Schwiter (Louis-Auguste Schwiter)
Sea Viewed from the Heights of Dieppe Eugene Delacroix
Sea Viewed from the Heights of Dieppe
Self Portrait 1840 Eugene Delacroix
Self-Portrait, about 1840
Still Life with Lobsters Eugene Delacroix
Still Life with Lobsters
Study of the Sky at Sunset Eugene Delacroix
Study of the Sky at Sunset
Tasso in the Madhouse Eugene Delacroix
Tasso in the Madhouse
The Assassination of the Bishop of Liege Eugene Delacroix
The Assassination (Murder) of the Bishop of Liege
The Battle of Giaour and Hassan Eugene Delacroix
The Battle of Giaour and Hassan
The Bride of Abydos Eugene Delacroix
The Bride of Abydos
The Bride of Lammermoor Eugene Delacroix
The Bride of Lammermoor
The Coast of Spain at Salabrena Eugene Delacroix
The Coast of Spain at Salabrena
The Death of Laras Eugene Delacroix
The Death of Laras
The Disciples at Emmaus Eugene Delacroix
The Disciples at Emmaus
The Edge of a Wood at Nohant Eugene Delacroix
The Edge of a Wood at Nohant
The Execution of the Doge Marino Faliero Eugene Delacroix
The Execution of the Doge Marino Faliero
The Prisoner of Chillon Eugene Delacroix
The Prisoner of Chillon
Tiger Eugene Delacroix
Tiger
Tiger and Snake Eugene Delacroix
Tiger and Snake
Tiger Hunt Eugene Delacroix
Tiger Hunt
Two Knights Fighting in a Landscape Eugene Delacroix
Two Knights Fighting in a Landscape
Two Views of a Standing Indian from Calcutta Eugene Delacroix
Two Views of a Standing Indian from Calcutta
Women of Algiers in their Apartment Eugene Delacroix
Women of Algiers in Their Apartment (1849)
The Sultan of Morocco Eugene Delacroix
The Sultan of Morocco
Jacob Wrestling with the Angel Eugene Delacroix
Jacob Wrestling with the Angel
A Young Tiger Playing with its Mother Eugene Delacroix
A Young Tiger Playing with its Mother
Portrait of Frédéric Chopin and George Sand Eugene Delacroix
Portrait of Frédéric Chopin and George Sand
The Battle of Nancy Eugene Delacroix
The Battle of Nancy
The Battle of Taillebourg won by Saint Louis Eugene Delacroix
The Battle of Taillebourg won by Saint Louis
Horses Leaving the Sea Eugene Delacroix
Horses Leaving the Sea
The Duke of Orléans Showing his Lover Eugene Delacroix
The Duke of Orléans Showing his Lover
Tiger with a Tortoise Eugene Delacroix
Tiger with a Tortoise
Last Words of the Emperor Marcus Aurelius Eugene Delacroix
Last Words of the Emperor Marcus Aurelius
Christopher Columbus and his Son at La Rábida Eugene Delacroix
Christopher Columbus and his Son at La Rábida
The Abduction of Rebecca Eugene Delacroix
The Abduction of Rebecca
The Abduction of Rebecca II Eugene Delacroix
The Abduction of Rebecca, 1873 — Eugène Louis Lami
Woman Stroking a Parrot Eugene Delacroix
Woman Stroking a Parrot
The Entombment of Christ Eugene Delacroix
The Entombment of Christ
Heliodorus Driven from the Temple Eugene Delacroix
Heliodorus Driven from the Temple
Portrait of George Sand Eugene Delacroix
Portrait of George Sand
Susanna and the Elders Eugene Delacroix
Susanna and the Elders
George Sand's Garden at Nohant Eugene Delacroix
George Sand's Garden at Nohant
The Education of Achilles Eugene Delacroix
The Education of Achilles
Portrait of Aspasie Eugene Delacroix
Portrait of Aspasie

Annotated Details from Paintings

The numbered points identify visible features discussed in this article. Return from each detail to the whole composition. Each caption identifies the work shown.

Massacre at Chios

Scenes from the Massacres at Chios, 1824. Musée du Louvre; INV 3823. Vulnerable figures spread across the lower foreground. Image source. Public domain.

Annotated details from Massacre at Chios by Eugène Delacroix

Death of Sardanapalus

The Death of Sardanapalus, 1827. Musée du Louvre; RF 2346. The reclining king remains at the upper left above the crowded diagonal. Image source. CC0 / Public domain.

Annotated details from Death of Sardanapalus by Eugène Delacroix

Details from PAINTINGS

Compare these details with their positions in the complete reproductions.

Massacre at Chios

1

Mother and infant

The mother lies still while the infant presses close to her exposed body. Their contact makes continuing dependence visible even when an answering gesture has become impossible.

Mother and infant detail from Massacre at Chios by Eugène Delacroix
2

The mounted captor and bound woman

The pale horse rises above the people on the ground, while the woman beside it stretches upwards with bound wrists. Movement and height belong to unequal positions of control.

The mounted captor and bound woman detail from Massacre at Chios by Eugène Delacroix
3

Bodies held close at the left

A woman leans towards the reclining man, whose lowered arm and extended legs give little support. Their overlapping forms make a local connection within the larger crowd.

Bodies held close at the left detail from Massacre at Chios by Eugène Delacroix
4

The opening into the distance

Small figures and disturbed ground continue beyond the gap between the foreground groups. The open landscape offers depth without providing the captives with an obvious route away.

The opening into the distance detail from Massacre at Chios by Eugène Delacroix

Death of Sardanapalus

5

The ruler’s supported repose

The king reclines in pale clothing with one hand near his face. His supported, elevated posture contrasts with the forced and frightened movements below him.

The ruler’s supported repose detail from Death of Sardanapalus by Eugène Delacroix
6

Force at the front of the picture

The foreground woman is drawn backwards within the attacker’s enclosing arms. Her pale torso, the grip and the raised blade make the relation between visual attraction and coercion difficult to avoid.

Force at the front of the picture detail from Death of Sardanapalus by Eugène Delacroix
7

The horse and its ornate harness

The horse turns its head sharply beside the attendant. Gold ornament remains conspicuous within its resistance, linking the animal’s splendour to the destructive claim over the household.

The horse and its ornate harness detail from Death of Sardanapalus by Eugène Delacroix
8

A body on the red bed

The woman’s extended body interrupts the broad red surface, and an arm reaches across its edge. A furnishing associated with comfort becomes part of the painting’s downward pull.

A body on the red bed detail from Death of Sardanapalus by Eugène Delacroix

Further reading

Books and museum resources for taking the subjects on this page further.

  • Delacroix. Sébastien Allard and Côme Fabre, with contributions by Dominique de Font-Réaulx, Michèle Hannoosh, Mehdi Korchane and Asher Miller. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2018. English.

    The exhibition catalogue brings career studies, thematic essays and an illustrated checklist together. The museum provides a free PDF. Read the museum publication record.

Artworks directory

Selected documented works by or associated with Eugène Delacroix, with dates, media and collection records distinguished. This is a growing research directory, not a complete catalogue. An unspecified medium appears under All media.

221 records

NameDateMedium
Male Academy Figure: Half‑Length, Side Viewc. 1818–20Oil painting Catalogue.
Female Academy Figure: Seated, Front View (Mademoiselle Rose)c. 1820–23Oil painting Catalogue.
Two Bearded Heads, after Veronese (detail from “The Marriage at Cana”)1820Oil painting Catalogue.
Self‑Portrait as Ravenswoodc.1821Oil painting Catalogue.
Nereid, after Rubens, detail from “The Landing of Maria de Medici at Marseilles”c. 1822Oil painting Catalogue.
Studies of a Damned Man, for “The Barque of Dante”1822Drawing Catalogue.
Head of an Old Greek Woman1824Oil painting Catalogue.
Tasso in the Hospital of St. Anna, Ferrara1824Oil painting Catalogue.
Turk Mounting His Horse1824Aquatint Catalogue.
Portrait of AspasieAbout 1824Oil painting Catalogue.
Sketch after Goya’s “Caprichos”c. 1822–24Drawing Catalogue.
Study of Babouchesc. 1823–24Oil painting Catalogue.
Thales Fielding (1793–1837)c. 1824–25Oil painting Catalogue.
Studies of Bindings, an Oriental Jacket, and Figures after Goyac. 1822–26Oil painting Catalogue.
Study of an Oriental Vestc. 1822–26Drawing Catalogue.
Study of Greek Costumesc. 1823–26Drawing Catalogue.
Christ in the Garden of Olives (The Agony in the Garden)1824–26Oil painting Catalogue.
Reclining Female Nude: Back Viewc. 1824–26Oil painting Catalogue.
Macbeth Consulting the Witches1825Lithograph Catalogue.
Studies of Seven Greek Coins1825Lithograph Catalogue.
Studies of Twelve Greek and Roman Coins1825Lithograph Catalogue.
Mortally Wounded Brigand Quenches His Thirstc.1825Oil painting Catalogue.
Charles VI and Odette de ChampdiversAbout 1825Oil painting Catalogue.
The Duke of Orléans Showing His LoverAbout 1825–26Oil painting Catalogue.
Count Demetrius de Palatiano (1794–1849) in Suliot Costumec. 1825–26Oil painting Catalogue.
Greece on the Ruins of Missolonghi1826Oil painting Catalogue.
Combat of the Giaour and Hassan1826Oil painting Catalogue.
Justinian Drafting His Laws, sketch1826Oil painting Catalogue.
Baron Schwiter (Louis Auguste Schwiter, 1805–1889)1826Lithograph Catalogue.
Louis Auguste Schwiter (1805–1889)1826–30Oil painting Catalogue.
Death of Sardanapalus, sketch1826–27Oil painting Catalogue.
A Lady and Her Valetc. 1826–29Oil painting Catalogue.
Woman with a Parrot1827Oil painting Catalogue.
Seated Turk (possibly Paul Barroilhet, 1805–1871)c. 1827–30Oil painting Catalogue.
A Greek and a Turk in an Interiorlate 1820sWatercolour Catalogue.
Faust (illustrated book)1828Illustrated book Catalogue.
Mephistopheles Flying over the City (Study for “Faust,” plate 1)c. 1825–27Drawing Catalogue.
Faust, plate 1: Mephistopheles Aloft1826/27Lithograph Catalogue.
Faust, plate 2: Faust in His Study1826/27Lithograph Catalogue.
Faust, plate 3: Faust and Wagner1826/27Lithograph Catalogue.
Faust, plate 4: Faust, Wagner, and the Poodle1826/27Lithograph Catalogue.
Faust, plate 5: Mephistopheles Appearing to Faust1826/27Lithograph Catalogue.
Faust, plate 6: Mephistopheles Receiving the Student1826/27Lithograph Catalogue.
Faust and Mephistopheles in the Tavern (Study for “Faust,” plate 7)1825/26Drawing Catalogue.
Faust, plate 7: Mephistopheles in Auerbach’s Tavern1826Lithograph Catalogue.
Faust, Marguerite, and Mephistopheles in the Street (Study for “Faust,” plate 8)c. 1825–27Drawing Catalogue.
Faust, plate 8: Faust Trying to Seduce Marguerite1826/27Lithograph Catalogue.
Faust, plate 9: Mephistopheles Introduces Himself at Martha’s House1827Lithograph Catalogue.
Faust, plate 10: Marguerite at the Spinning Wheel1826/27Lithograph Catalogue.
Faust, plate 11: Duel between Faust and Valentin1826/27Lithograph Catalogue.
Faust, plate 12: Mephistopheles and Faust Fleeing after the Duel1826/27Lithograph Catalogue.
Faust, plate 13: Marguerite in Church1826/27Lithograph Catalogue.
Faust, plate 14: Faust and Mephistopheles in the Harz Mountains1826/27Lithograph Catalogue.
Faust, plate 15: Marguerite’s Ghost Appearing to Faust1826/27Lithograph Catalogue.
Faust, plate 16: Faust and Mephistopheles Galloping on Walpurgis Night1826Lithograph Catalogue.
Faust, plate 17: Faust with Marguerite in Prison1826/27Lithograph Catalogue.
Wild Horse Felled by a Tiger1828Lithograph Catalogue.
Wild Horse Felled by a Tiger1828Watercolour Catalogue.
Wild Horse1828Lithograph Catalogue.
Studies of a Lion (Tours sketchbook)12 February 1824 or 1829Drawing Catalogue.
Sketches of Tigers and Men in Sixteenth‑Century Costumec. 1828–29Watercolour Catalogue.
Nineteen Studies of Heads and Skulls of Lionsc. 1828–30Drawing Catalogue.
Tiger Lying at the Entrance of Its Lairc. 1828–30Etching Catalogue.
The Murder of the Bishop of Liège1829Oil painting Catalogue.
Royal Tiger1829Lithograph Catalogue.
Lion of the Atlas Mountains1829–30Lithograph Catalogue.
Young Tiger Playing with Its Mother (Study of Two Tigers)1830Oil painting Catalogue.
The Battle of Poitiers1830Oil painting Catalogue.
The Battle of Nancy and the Death of Charles the Bold, Duke of Burgundy, January 5, 14771831Oil painting Catalogue.
Boissy d’Anglas at the Convention, sketch1831Oil painting Catalogue.
Interior of a Dominican Convent in Madrid (L’Amende Honorable)1831Oil painting Catalogue.
Jewish Woman of Tangier1832Drawing Catalogue.
Portrait of Schmareck, Tanner at Tangier1832Watercolour Catalogue.
Standing Moroccan1832Watercolour Catalogue.
A Man of Tangier1832Watercolour Catalogue.
Saada, the Wife of Abraham Ben‑Chimol, and Préciada, One of Their Daughters1832Watercolour Catalogue.
Street in Meknes1832Oil painting Catalogue.
Moroccan Military Exercises1832Oil painting Catalogue.
Arab Cavalry Practicing a Charge (Fantaisie Arabe)1833Oil painting Catalogue.
A Blacksmith1833Aquatint Catalogue.
Collision of Arab Horsemen1833/34Oil painting Catalogue.
Figure Study for “The Women of Algiers”1833/34Watercolour Catalogue.
Women of Algiers in Their Apartment1834Oil painting Catalogue.
The Natchez1823–24 and 1835Oil painting Catalogue.
Christ on the Cross1835Oil painting Catalogue.
Hamlet and Horatio in the Graveyard1835Oil painting Catalogue.
Combat of the Giaour and Hassan1835Oil painting Catalogue.
Léon Riesener (1808–1878)1835Oil painting Catalogue.
Madame Henri François Riesener (Félicité Longrois, 1786–1847)1835Oil painting Catalogue.
Saint Sebastian Tended by the Holy Women1836Oil painting Catalogue.
Medea About to Kill Her Children, sketchc. 1836Oil painting Catalogue.
Moroccan Chieftain Receiving Tribute1837Oil painting Catalogue.
Self‑Portrait in a Green Vestc. 1837Oil painting Catalogue.
Medea About to Kill Her Children (Medée furieuse)1838Oil painting Catalogue.
Cleopatra and the Peasant1838Oil painting Catalogue.
Hamlet and Horatio in the Graveyard1839Oil painting Catalogue.
Startled Arabian Horse in a Landscapec. 1835–40Watercolour Catalogue.
The Shipwreck of Don Juan1840Oil painting Catalogue.
Christ on the Lake of Genesareth (Portland version)c. 1853Oil painting Catalogue.
Pietà, first sketchby 1843Oil painting Catalogue.
Pietà, second sketchby 1843Oil painting Catalogue.
Christ on the Cross, sketch1845Oil painting Catalogue.
Christ on the Cross1846Oil painting Catalogue.
Death of Sardanapalus (Philadelphia replica)1844 / 1845–46Oil painting Catalogue.
The Abduction of Rebecca1846Oil painting Catalogue.
The Lamentation (Christ at the Tomb)1847–48Oil painting Catalogue.
Arab Players1848Oil painting Catalogue.
Arch of Morning Glories, study for “Basket of Flowers”1848/49Pastel Catalogue.
Basket of Flowers1848–49Oil painting Catalogue.
Basket of Flowers and Fruit1849Oil painting Catalogue.
Basket of Flowersc. 1848–50Oil painting Catalogue.
Christ at the Columnprobably 1849Oil painting Catalogue.
Landscape at Champrosaypossibly 1849Oil painting Catalogue.
Michelangelo in His StudioAbout1849–50Oil painting Catalogue.
View in the Forest of Sénartc. 1849–50Oil painting Catalogue.
Forest View with an Oak Treec. 1849–50Watercolour Catalogue.
The Triumph of Genius over Envyc. 1849–51Drawing Catalogue.
Jacob Struggling with the Angel1850Drawing Catalogue.
Jacob Wrestling with the Angel1850Drawing Catalogue.
Jacob Wrestling with the Angel1850Oil painting Catalogue.
Sunsetc. 1850Pastel Catalogue.
Apollo Slays the Python, sketchc. 1850Oil painting Catalogue.
Apollo Victorious over the Serpent Python, sketchc. 1850Oil painting Catalogue.
PietàAbout1850Oil painting Catalogue.
The Agony in the Garden1851Oil painting Catalogue.
Study of the Sea1851(?)Watercolour Catalogue.
Marphise1852Oil painting Catalogue.
The Sea at Dieppe1852Oil painting Catalogue.
Christ Asleep during the Tempestc. 1853Oil painting Catalogue.
Saint Stephen Borne Away by His Disciples1853Oil painting Catalogue.
Christ on the Sea of Galilee1854Oil painting Catalogue.
The Sea at Dieppeprobably 1854Watercolour Catalogue.
A Lion and a Tiger, Fightingc. 1854Drawing Catalogue.
Lion Hunt, sketch1854Oil painting Catalogue.
Lion Hunt (fragment)1855Oil painting Catalogue.
Lion Hunt1855–56Oil painting Catalogue.
Hilly Landscapec. 1855Oil painting Catalogue.
The Sultan of Morocco and His Entourage1856Oil painting Catalogue.
The Bride of Abydos (Selim and Zuleika)1857Oil painting Catalogue.
Lamentation over the Body of Christ1857Oil painting Catalogue.
Abduction of Rebecca1858Oil painting Catalogue.
Ovid among the Scythians1859Oil painting Catalogue.
Amadis de Gaule Delivers a Damsel from Galpan’s Castle1859–60Oil painting Catalogue.
Arab Horses Fighting in a Stable1860Oil painting Catalogue.
Shipwreck on the Coast1862Oil painting Catalogue.
The Battle of Taillebourg won by Saint Louis (Château de Versailles)1837Oil on canvas Catalogue.
Christ on the Lake of Gennezaret (Christ Asleep during the Tempest) (The Metropolitan Museum of Art)About 1853Oil on canvas Catalogue.
The Coast of Spain at Salabrena (Christie’s 1998 sale 6059, lot 123)19 January 1832Pen and ink Catalogue.
Crouching Tiger (The Metropolitan Museum of Art)1839Pen and ink Catalogue.
The Education of Achilles (J. Paul Getty Museum)1862Pastel Catalogue.
Fallen Warriors and a Runaway Horse (The Metropolitan Museum of Art)1862Pen and ink Catalogue.
George Sand's Garden at Nohant (The Metropolitan Museum of Art)About 1842–43Oil on canvas Catalogue.
The Giaour on Horseback (The Metropolitan Museum of Art)1824–26Pen and ink Catalogue.
Lion Hunt (Art Institute of Chicago)1860–61; signed 1861Oil on canvas Catalogue.
Figure Studies related to Liberty Leading the People1830Pen and brown ink, brush and brown wash Catalogue.
Chios: Head, Shoulder and Foot Studies1823Graphite Catalogue.
Figure Studies for the Salon du Roi, Palais Bourbon1833–35Pen and iron gall ink Catalogue.
Four Studies of Horses1824–25Pen, ink, black wash and graphite (recto); graphite (verso) Catalogue.
Studies of a Horse and Rider for Heliodorus Driven from the Temple1849–50Pen and iron gall ink, graphite Catalogue.
Liberty Leading the People1830Oil on canvas Catalogue.
Massacre at Chios1824Oil on canvas Catalogue.
Death of Sardanapalus (Louvre original)1827Oil on canvas Catalogue.
Barque of Dante1822Oil painting Catalogue.
Orphan Girl at the Cemetery1824Oil painting Catalogue.
Jacob Wrestling with the Angel (Saint-Sulpice wall painting)Completed 1861Wall painting Catalogue.
Heliodorus Driven from the Temple (Saint-Sulpice wall painting)Completed 1861Wall painting Catalogue.
African Pirates Abducting a Young Woman1852Oil painting Catalogue.
An Arab Horseman at the Gallop1849Oil painting Catalogue.
Arabs Skirmishing in the Mountains1863Oil painting Catalogue.
Moroccan Horseman Crossing a FordAbout 1850Oil painting Catalogue.
A Moroccan (Arab) Saddling a Horse1855Oil painting Catalogue.
The Execution of the Doge Marino Faliero1825–26Oil painting Catalogue.
Christopher Columbus and his Son at La Rábida1838Oil painting Catalogue.
Horse Frightened by Lightning1825–29Watercolour Catalogue.
Horses Leaving the Sea1860Oil painting Catalogue.
Tiger with a Tortoise1862Oil painting Catalogue.
TigerAbout1830Watercolour Catalogue.
Tiger and Snake1862Oil painting Catalogue.
Tiger Hunt1854Oil painting Catalogue.
Lion Hunt in Morocco1854Oil painting Catalogue.
Lion Rending Apart a CorpseAbout1848;historical catalogue placementWatercolour Catalogue.
Frederic Chopin1838Oil painting Catalogue.
Portrait of George Sand1838Oil painting Catalogue.
Portrait of Frédéric Chopin and George Sand1838Oil painting Catalogue.
Mademoiselle RoseAbout 1820Oil painting Catalogue.
Head of a Woman in a Red Turban1831; archive dateOil painting Catalogue.
Two Views of a Standing Indian from CalcuttaAbout 1823–24Oil painting Catalogue.
Last Words of the Emperor Marcus Aurelius1844Oil painting Catalogue.
Entry of the Crusaders in Constantinople1840Oil painting Catalogue.
Medea1862Oil painting Catalogue.
The Death of Laras1858Oil painting Catalogue.
The Bride of AbydosAbout 1852–53; dating disputedOil painting Catalogue.
The Bride of LammermoorAbout1826Watercolour Catalogue.
Cromwell at Windsor Castle1828Oil painting Catalogue.
Milton Dictated to his Daughters the Paradise Lost1827–28Oil painting Catalogue.
Tasso in the Madhouse1839Oil painting Catalogue.
Christ on the Cross1853Oil painting Catalogue.
The Disciples at Emmaus1853Oil painting Catalogue.
The Entombment of ChristNineteenth century; precise date unestablishedOil painting Catalogue.
Fanatics of Tangier1837–38Oil painting Catalogue.
Jewish BrideUndated; Moroccan subject associated with the1832journeyWatercolour Catalogue.
Jewish Wedding in Morocco1839; Salon1841Oil painting Catalogue.
Moroccan Fantasia1847Oil painting Catalogue.
The Sultan of Morocco1845Oil painting Catalogue.
Bouquet of Flowers 18431843Watercolour Catalogue.
Bouquet of Flowers, 18491849Watercolour Catalogue.
Cliffs Near Dieppe1852–55Watercolour Catalogue.
The Edge of a Wood at Nohantc.1842/1843Watercolour Catalogue.
Still Life with Lobsters1826–27Oil on canvas Catalogue.
A Corner of the Studio (attribution disputed)1825–1850; attribution disputedOil on canvas Catalogue.
Study of the Sky at Sunsetc.1849Pastel Catalogue.
Self-Portrait, about 1840c.1840Oil on canvas Catalogue.
Women of Algiers in Their Apartment (1849)1849Oil on canvas Catalogue.
Susanna and the Elders1841Oil on canvas Catalogue.
The Education of Achilles (Drawing)c.1844Graphite Catalogue.
Attila the HunCompleted 1847Mural detail Catalogue.
The Italian Theatre1821Lithograph Catalogue.
A Turkish Man on a Grey HorseUndatedNot specified Catalogue.
Study for The Massacre at ChiosAbout 1823–24Graphite, watercolour and gouache on paper Catalogue.
The Prisoner of Chillon1834; Salon of 1835Oil on canvas Catalogue.
Two Knights Fighting in a LandscapeSecond quarter of the nineteenth century; precise date uncertainOil on canvas; possible later completion Catalogue.

Discussion

Look again at the images and ideas explored in Eugène Delacroix Paintings. These editorial prompts invite your observations.

Reader Insights

Editorial prompt · Follow the composition

Compare the crowded foreground at Chios with the diagonal red bed in Sardanapalus. How does each arrangement distribute attention?

Editorial prompt · Look again

Look at the two versions of Ovid. How do the figures’ proportions change their relationship with the landscape?

Join the Conversation

Share a detail, comparison or question about Eugène Delacroix Paintings below.

References

  1. Musée du Louvre, Dante et Virgile, dit aussi La barque de Dante, INV 3820, collection record. Louvre Collections. French. Recorded access: 28 October 2026. View source.
  2. National Gallery of Art, Washington, Tiger and Snake, 2014.136.30, collection record. National Gallery of Art. English. Recorded access: 28 October 2026. View source.
  3. Ville de Paris, Retrouvez les splendeurs de Delacroix à la chapelle des Saints-Anges de Saint-Sulpice, sections on the commission, the three paintings and restoration techniques. Paris.fr. French. Recorded access: 28 October 2026. View source.
  4. Assemblée nationale, Delacroix à l’Assemblée nationale, thematic account of the Salon du Roi and library decorations. Assemblée nationale. French. Recorded access: 28 October 2026. View source.
  5. The National Gallery, London, Ovid among the Scythians, NG6262, collection record, “Overview”, “In-depth” and object fields. National Gallery. English. Recorded access: 28 October 2026. View source.
  6. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Ovid among the Scythians, 2008.101, collection record and short commentary. The Met Collection. English. Recorded access: 28 October 2026. View source.
  7. Musée du Louvre, Frédéric Chopin, RF 1717, collection record, especially physical dimensions and object history. Louvre Collections. French. Recorded access: 28 October 2026. View source.
  8. Musée du Louvre, Le 28 juillet 1830. La Liberté guidant le peuple, RF 129, collection record, especially creation and exhibition history. Louvre Collections. French. Recorded access: 28 October 2026. View source.
  9. Musée du Louvre, Scènes des massacres de Scio. Familles grecques attendant la mort ou l’esclavage, INV 3823, collection record, including Salon description and creation history. Louvre Collections. French. Recorded access: 28 October 2026. View source.
  10. Musée du Louvre, Mort de Sardanapale, RF 2346, collection record, especially description and exhibition history. Louvre Collections. French. Recorded access: 28 October 2026. View source.
  11. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Natchez, 1989.328, collection record and short commentary. The Met Collection. English. Recorded access: 28 October 2026. View source.
  12. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Study for The Sultan of Morocco and His Entourage, 2013.1135.20, collection record and short commentary. The Met Collection. English. Recorded access: 28 October 2026. View source.
  13. Musée des Augustins, Toulouse, Moulay Abd-er-Rahman, sultan du Maroc, sortant de son palais de Meknes, entouré de sa garde et de ses principaux officiers, 2004 1 99, collection record. Musée des Augustins collections. French. Recorded access: 28 October 2026. View source.
  14. Musée du Louvre, Femmes d’Alger dans leur appartement, INV 3824, collection record. Louvre Collections. English interface; object fields principally French. Recorded access: 28 October 2026. View source.
  15. The National Gallery, London, Louis-Auguste Schwiter, NG3286, collection record, “Overview”, “In-depth” and object fields. National Gallery. English. Recorded access: 28 October 2026. View source.
  16. The National Gallery, London, Delacroix and the Rise of Modern Art, press release issued December 2015 for the exhibition of 17 February–22 May 2016. National Gallery. English. Recorded access: 28 October 2026. View source.
  17. Asher Miller, compiler, “Checklist,” entries 1–145, in Sébastien Allard and Côme Fabre, Delacroix. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2018, pp. 275–297. Basic title, date and medium metadata consulted; not a complete catalogue of the artist’s works. Source language: English. Accessed 28 October 2026. View source.
  18. Asher Ethan Miller, “Eugène Delacroix, Christ on the Sea of Galilee, 1853 or earlier,” French Paintings and Pastels, 1600–1945, Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, 2021. Narrative and notes, including the revised Portland chronology; Glynnis Napier Stevenson documentation note 1 also consulted. Source language: English. Accessed 28 October 2026. View source.
  19. Ministère de la Culture, base Joconde, Bataille de Taillebourg. 21 juillet 1242, notice 000PE005883; collection du château de Versailles, MV 2676 / INV 3822 / LP 2780. French. Accessed 27 October 2026. View source.
  20. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, “Eugène Delacroix: Christ Asleep during the Tempest,” collection record, accession 29.100.131, object details and introductory commentary. Source language: English. Accessed 28 October 2026. View source.
  21. Christie’s, “The Coast of Spain at Salabrena”, Ferdinand-Victor-Eugène Delacroix, Impressionist & 19th Century Art, Pt. II, sale 6059, lot 123, 1998. Object details, sale-room notice and lot essay; unpaginated. Source language: English; artist’s inscription in French. Accessed 27 October 2026. View source.
  22. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, “Eugène Delacroix: Crouching Tiger”, collection record for accession 2013.1135.5, 1839; object details and curatorial commentary, unpaginated. Source language: English. Accessed 28 October 2026. View source.
  23. George R. Goldner and Lee Hendrix, with Kelly Pask, European Drawings 2: Catalogue of the Collections. Malibu: J. Paul Getty Museum, 1992, entry 56, p. 140; colour plate 8. Source language: English. Accessed 27 October 2026. View source.
  24. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, “Fallen Warriors and a Runaway Horse”, collection record, object details, curatorial commentary and collection image; unpaginated. Source language: English. Accessed 28 October 2026. View source.
  25. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, “George Sand’s Garden at Nohant,” Eugène Delacroix, collection record, accession 22.27.4; object details and curatorial overview. Source language: English. Accessed 27 October 2026. View source.
  26. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, “The Giaour on Horseback”, Eugène Delacroix, 1824–26, accession 2015.713.2, collection record and recto image. Source language: English. Accessed 27 October 2026. View source.
  27. Art Institute of Chicago, “Lion Hunt”, collection record, especially “About this artwork”, object information, inscriptions and provenance; unpaginated. Source language: English. Accessed 28 October 2026. View source.
  28. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Figure Studies related to Liberty Leading the People, 1830, 2013.1135.12. Visible object metadata and short commentary. English. Accessed 28 October 2026. View source.
  29. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Head, Shoulder, and Foot, Studies for Scenes from the Chios Massacres, 1823, 2013.1135.22. Visible object metadata and commentary. English. Accessed 28 October 2026. View source.
  30. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Figure Studies for the Salon du Roi, Palais Bourbon, 1833–35, 2013.1135.24. Visible metadata and commentary. English. Accessed 28 October 2026. View source.
  31. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Four Studies of Horses, 1824–25, 2024.591.65. Recto and verso metadata and commentary. English. Accessed 28 October 2026. View source.
  32. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Studies of a Horse and Rider for Heliodorus Driven from the Temple, 1849–50, 2024.591.78. Visible metadata and commentary. English. Accessed 28 October 2026. View source.
  33. Musée du Louvre, Le 28 juillet 1830. La Liberté guidant le peuple, RF 129, 1830. Object details and historical record. French. Accessed 28 October 2026. View source.
  34. Musée du Louvre, Scènes des massacres de Scio, INV 3823, 1824. Object details and historical record. French. Accessed 28 October 2026. View source.
  35. Musée du Louvre, Mort de Sardanapale, RF 2346, 1827. Object details and historical record. French. Accessed 28 October 2026. View source.
  36. Philadelphia Museum of Art, The Death of Sardanapalus, object 82626, 1986-26-17, dated 1844. Heading and short commentary; dating differs from the 2018 catalogue. English. Accessed 28 October 2026. View source.
  37. Musée du Louvre, Dante et Virgile, dit aussi La barque de Dante, INV 3820, 1822; object metadata and history. French. Accessed 28 October 2026. View source.
  38. Musée du Louvre, Jeune orpheline au cimetière, RF 1652, 1824; object metadata and history. French. Accessed 28 October 2026. View source.
  39. Musée des Beaux-Arts de Bordeaux, La Grèce sur les ruines de Missolonghi, Bx E 439, 1826; collection record and audio transcript. French. Accessed 28 October 2026. View source.
  40. Ville de Paris, Retrouvez les chefs d’œuvres de Delacroix à la chapelle des Saints-Anges de Saint-Sulpice, updated 30 November 2016; chapel commission/completion and material history. French. Accessed 28 October 2026. View source.
  41. Musée du Louvre, Pirates africains enlevant une jeune femme, RF 1965 9, 1852; object record, interpretation and provenance. French. Accessed 28 October 2026. View source.
  42. Qatar Museums, Tales of a Connected World: About the Galleries; Arab Horseman at the Gallop, 1849, Lusail Museum Collection, and Delacroix’s Gaze. English. Accessed 28 October 2026. View source.
  43. National Gallery of Art, Arabs Skirmishing in the Mountains, 1863, 1966.12.1; object metadata, interpretation and provenance. English. Accessed 28 October 2026. View source.
  44. J. Paul Getty Museum, Moroccan Horseman Crossing a Ford, about 1850, 2001.42; Getty-authored commentary and metadata on Google Arts & Culture. English. Accessed 28 October 2026. View source.
  45. State Hermitage Museum, Moroccan Saddling a Horse, 1855, ГЭ-3852; complete indexed Russian owner text and object fields. Russian. Accessed 28 October 2026. View source.
  46. Paris Musées / Petit Palais, Le Combat du Giaour et du Pacha,1835,PDUT1162; object record and interpretation. French. Accessed 28 October 2026. View source.
  47. Art Institute of Chicago, The Combat of the Giaour and Hassan,1826; owner-authored Google Arts & Culture object record. English. Accessed 28 October 2026. View source.
  48. Ackland Art Museum, Cleopatra and the Peasant,1838,59.15.1; indexed owner object fields. English. Accessed 28 October 2026. View source.
  49. The Wallace Collection, The Execution of the Doge Marino Faliero,1825–26,P282; object record and description. English. Accessed 28 October 2026. View source.
  50. National Gallery of Art, Christopher Columbus and His Son at La Rábida,1838,1963.10.127; object record and provenance. English. Accessed 28 October 2026. View source.
  51. Musée d’Orsay, Chevaux arabes se battant dans une écurie,1860,RF1988; indexed owner object fields. French. Accessed 28 October 2026. View source.
  52. Museum of Fine Arts, Budapest / Zsuzsa Gonda, Horse Frightened by Lightning,1825–29,D_1935-2698; owner-authored Google Arts & Culture record and essay. English. Accessed 28 October 2026. View source.
  53. The Phillips Collection, Horses Coming Out of the Sea,1860,0486; collection record and commentary. English. Accessed 28 October 2026. View source.
  54. Musée du Louvre, Jeune Tigre jouant avec sa mère,1830,RF1943; full object record and history. French. Accessed 28 October 2026. View source.
  55. Christie’s, Tigre jouant avec une tortue,1862; Rockefeller2018 sale16718 lot3, record and essay. English. Accessed 28 October 2026. View source.
  56. National Gallery of Art, Tiger, about1830,1943.3.3375; indexed owner record, inscription and visual description. English. Accessed 28 October 2026. View source.
  57. National Gallery of Art, Tiger and Snake,1862,2014.136.30; indexed owner record, provenance and visual description. English. Accessed 28 October 2026. View source.
  58. Musée d’Orsay, Chasse au tigre,1854,RF1814; indexed owner record and commentary. French/English. Accessed 28 October 2026. View source.
  59. State Hermitage Museum, Lion Hunt in Morocco,1854,3853; official guide2014,entry195,pp248–249. English. Accessed 28 October 2026. View source.
  60. Alfred Robaut / Ernest Chesneau, L’Œuvre complet de Eugène Delacroix,1885,p279,entry1054,watercolour Lion déchirant un cadavre. French. Accessed 28 October 2026. View source.
  61. Musée du Louvre, Frédéric Chopin, 1838, RF 1717; current owner record of the surviving fragment. French. Accessed 28 October 2026. View source.
  62. Museum Ordrupgaard, George Sand, 1838, 280WH; current owner dimensions/materials/signature record. Danish. Accessed 28 October 2026. View source.
  63. Musée du Louvre, Preparatory study for Chopin and George Sand, circa 1838, RF 9357; owner record and commentary. French/English. Accessed 28 October 2026. View source.
  64. Musée du Louvre, Portrait de Léon Riesener, 1835, RF 1960 58; current owner metadata, label transcription and commentary. French. Accessed 28 October 2026. View source.
  65. The National Gallery, London, Louis-Auguste Schwiter, 1826–30, NG 3286; current owner record and in-depth commentary. English. Accessed 28 October 2026. View source.
  66. Musée du Louvre, Nu assis, dit Mademoiselle Rose, about 1820, RF 1942 14; complete owner object record. French. Accessed 28 October 2026. View source.
  67. Musée Fabre, Étude d’après le modèle Aspasie, about 1824, 868.1.36; current owner fields and short commentary. French. Accessed 28 October 2026. View source.
  68. Musées d’Orléans, Head of an Old Greek Woman, study for Chios,1824,96.2.1; full owner record and commentary. French. Accessed 28 October 2026. View source.
  69. Art Fund, Head of a Woman in Red Turban By Lamplight; archive date1831, rounded dimensions and1962acquisition support; archive cautions record notupdated. English. Accessed 28 October 2026. View source.
  70. National Gallery of Art, Two Studies of a Standing Indian from Calcutta,c1823/1824,2006.128.18; current owner record and visual description. English. Accessed 28 October 2026. View source.
  71. National Gallery of Art, Two Studies of an Indian from Calcutta,Seated and Standing,c1823/1824,2006.128.19; separate comparative canvas,current owner record. English. Accessed 28 October 2026. View source.
  72. Musée du Louvre, The Assassination of the Bishop of Liège,1829,RF1961 13; complete owner fields and selected provenance. French. Accessed 28 October 2026. View source.
  73. Musée des Beaux-Arts de Nancy, The Battle of Nancy, signed1831,177; current object fields, narrative and acquisition history. French. Accessed 28 October 2026. View source.
  74. Musée des Beaux-Arts de Lyon, Last Words of the Emperor Marcus Aurelius,1844,A2928; complete owner record and interpretation. French. Accessed 28 October 2026. View source.
  75. Mar Borobia, Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza, The Duke of Orléans Showing His Lover,about1825–26,127(1977.19); complete object record and essay. English. Accessed 28 October 2026. View source.
  76. Musée du Louvre, Entry of the Crusaders in Constantinople,1840,INV3821/LP4674; current owner description, commission and provenance. French. Accessed 28 October 2026. View source.
  77. Musée du Louvre, Medea,1862,RF1402; later variant of the1838Lilleoriginal,current object record. French. Accessed 28 October 2026. View source.
  78. Musée du Louvre, The Shipwreck of Don Juan,1840,RF359; current owner fields and1883gift record. French. Accessed 28 October 2026. View source.
  79. Musée du Louvre, The Bride of Abydos,RF1398; current dimensions/bequest and broad date differing from the2018catalogue. French. Accessed 28 October 2026. View source.
  80. Palais des Beaux-Arts de Lille, Medea About to Kill Her Children,1838,P542; the earlier large original,current owner record. French. Accessed 28 October 2026. View source.
  81. Kimbell Art Museum, Selim and Zuleika,1857,AP1986.04; separate final version, complete indexed owner narrative/provenance. English. Accessed 28 October 2026. View source.
  82. Art Gallery of Ontario, The Bride of Lammermoor,about1826,80/83; graphite,watercolour andgouache,collection/provenance record. English. Accessed 28 October 2026. View source.
  83. Christie’s, Cromwell at Windsor Castle,1828,Johnson129;2002auction record/lotessay and1831Salon listing. English. Accessed 28 October 2026. View source.
  84. Musée Fabre, Michelangelo in His Studio,1850,868.1.40;current object fields andinterpretive notice. French. Accessed 28 October 2026. View source.
  85. Kunsthaus Zürich, Milton Dictating Paradise Lost to His Daughters,1827–28,1988/0028;current ownerPDF. English. Accessed 28 October 2026. View source.
  86. Sammlung Oskar Reinhart Am Römerholz, Tasso in the Madhouse,1839,oil60×50cm;owner object record. English. Accessed 28 October 2026. View source.
  87. The National Gallery, London, Christ on the Cross,1853,NG6433;oil73.5×59.7cm,currentobjectrecord. English. Accessed 28 October 2026. View source.
  88. The Walters Art Museum, Christ on the Sea of Galilee,1854,37.186;oil59.8×73.3cm,currentobjectrecord. English. Accessed 28 October 2026. View source.
  89. Brooklyn Museum, The Disciples at Emmaus,1853,50.106;oil55.2×47cm,currentobjectrecord. English. Accessed 28 October 2026. View source.
  90. INHA / Joconde, La Mise au tombeau,copyafterTitian,LyonB286;oil40×55.5cm,nineteenthcentury,currentobjectfields. French. Accessed 28 October 2026. View source.
  91. Nasjonalmuseet, Oslo, Pietà,about1850,NG.M.01179;oil35.6×27cm,currentobjectrecord. English. Accessed 28 October 2026. View source.
  92. Minneapolis Institute of Art, Convulsionists of Tangier,1837–38,73.42.3;oil95.57×128.59cm,owner-published collection data. English. Accessed 28 October 2026. View source.
  93. Musée du Louvre, Mariée juive à Tanger,undated,RF4614Recto;watercolour/graphite28.5×23.2cm,currentobjectrecord. French. Accessed 28 October 2026. View source.
  94. Musée du Louvre, Noce juive dans le Maroc,1839,INV3825/LP4737;oil105×140.5cm,Salon1841,currentobjectrecord. French. Accessed 28 October 2026. View source.
  95. Swiss Federal Office of Culture, Marokkanische Soldaten bei einer Gefechtsübung,1847,SOR1936.3;oil66×82cm,Römerholz,currentobjectrecord. German. Accessed 28 October 2026. View source.
  96. Musée des Augustins, Toulouse, Moulay Abd-er-Rahman,sultan du Maroc,1845,2004 1 99;oil384×344cm,currentobjectrecord. French. Accessed 28 October 2026. View source.
  97. French Ministry of Culture / Musée Fabre, Bouquet de fleurs, 1843, inventory 876.3.101; black pencil and watercolour, 20.5 × 26.4 cm. Current Joconde collection record. French. Accessed 28 October 2026. View source.
  98. Musée du Louvre, Bouquet de fleurs, 1849, RF 31719, Recto; watercolour, gouache and pastel over black pencil on two joined sheets of grey paper, 65 × 65.4 cm. Current collection record. French. Accessed 28 October 2026. View source.
  99. Musée Marmottan Monet, Monet collectionneur – Chefs-d’œuvre de sa collection privée, 2017 press dossier, printed p.24 (PDF p.23). Cliffs near Dieppe, 1852–55, watercolour, 20 × 30.7 cm; reproduction and collection history. French. Accessed 28 October 2026. View source.
  100. National Gallery of Art, Washington, The Edge of a Wood at Nohant, c.1842/1843, accession 1985.16.2; watercolour, 15.5 × 20.5 cm. Current collection record. English. Accessed 28 October 2026. View source.
  101. Musée du Louvre, La mer vue des hauteurs de Dieppe, RF 1979-46; oil on cardboard glued to wood, 36 × 52 cm. Current collection record; 1852 dating follows the 2018 Delacroix catalogue, no.128. French. Accessed 28 October 2026. View source.
  102. Musée du Louvre, Nature morte au homard, RF1661,1826–27, oil on canvas80.5×106.5cm. French. Accessed 28 October 2026. View source.
  103. Musée du Louvre, Coin d’atelier. Le poêle, RF2058,1825–1850,oil51×43.4cm; doubtful signature and disputed attribution. French. Accessed 28 October 2026. View source.
  104. Musée du Louvre, Etude de ciel au soleil couchant, RF3706 Recto,c1849,pastel on grey paper19.2×23.8cm. French. Accessed 28 October 2026. View source.
  105. Ministero della Cultura / Gallerie degli Uffizi, Autoritratto di Delacroix,0900099717,Inv1890no3914,c1840,oil66×54cm; complete six-page SIGEC record. Italian. Accessed 28 October 2026. View source.
  106. Musée du Louvre / Musée national Eugène-Delacroix, Portrait de Delacroix en Hamlet, formerly Ravenswood,MD2021-2/RF1953-38,c1821,oil41×33cm. French. Accessed 28 October 2026. View source.
  107. Musée Fabre, Femmes d’Alger dans leur intérieur, 1849, 868.1.38, oil on canvas, 85 × 112 cm. French. Accessed 28 October 2026. View source.
  108. Musée des Beaux-Arts de Lyon, Femme caressant un perroquet, 1827, B 566, oil on canvas, 24.8 × 33 cm. French. Accessed 28 October 2026. View source.
  109. Palais des Beaux-Arts de Lille, Suzanne et les vieillards, 1841, P 986, oil on canvas, 27 × 35.5 cm. French. Accessed 28 October 2026. View source.
  110. Kunstmuseum Basel, Ein sterbender Brigant trinkt an einer Quelle, c.1825, 1726, oil on canvas, 32.7 × 40.8 cm. German. Accessed 28 October 2026. View source.
  111. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Education of Achilles, c.1844, 2014.732.3, graphite, 23.6 × 29.7 cm. English. Accessed 28 October 2026. View source.
  112. Assemblée nationale, Attila and His Hordes Overrun Italy and the Arts, War hemicycle detail, library of the Palais Bourbon, completed 1847, oil and wax on plaster. French. Accessed 28 October 2026. View source.
  113. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Théâtre Italien, 13 August 1821, 2004.198, lithograph, sheet 25.6 × 18.6 cm. English. Accessed 28 October 2026. View source.
  114. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Macbeth Consulting the Witches, 1825, 22.63.19, lithograph, third state of five. English. Accessed 28 October 2026. View source.
  115. Musée du Louvre, Hamlet et Horatio au cimetière, 1839, RF 1942, oil on canvas, 82 × 65 cm. French. Accessed 28 October 2026. View source.
  116. National Gallery, London, Ovid among the Scythians, 1859, NG6262, oil on canvas, 87.6 × 130.2 cm. English. Accessed 28 October 2026. View source.
  117. Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, The Abduction of Rebecca, Eugène Louis Lami, 1873, 88.341. Comparative attribution correction; not a Delacroix work. English. Accessed 28 October 2026. View source.
  118. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Devotion to Drawing: The Karen B. Cohen Collection of Eugène Delacroix, 2018 exhibition overview. English. Accessed 28 October 2026. View source.
  119. New York Public Library, Print Collection: Print Glossary, definitions of impression, state, edition and processes. English. Accessed 28 October 2026. View source.
  120. Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, CAMEO, Lithograph, planographic printing glossary. English. Accessed 28 October 2026. View source.
  121. Musée Eugène-Delacroix, Delacroix and colour, 5 July 2022, collection article. English. Accessed 28 October 2026. View source.
  122. Musée du Louvre, Eugène Delacroix: artist biography. French. Accessed 28 October 2026. View source.
  123. Eugène Delacroix / Philippe Burty, editor, Lettres (1815–1863), Paris: A. Quantin, 1878, pp. 120–121; the published extract of 25 January 1832 and opening of 8 February. French. Accessed 28 October 2026. View source.
  124. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, A Wall Decorated in Spanish Tiles, 1832, 2013.1135.16; collection record. English. Accessed 28 October 2026. View source.
  125. National Gallery of Art, Washington, Mephistopheles in the Air, 1828, 1994.60.13; first state of five. English. Accessed 28 October 2026. View source.
  126. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Hamlet Sees the Ghost of His Father on the Terrace, 1843, 22.56.7; first state of five. English. Accessed 28 October 2026. View source.
  127. Eugène Delacroix / Paul Flat and René Piot, editors, Journal, 22 June 1863; Paris: Plon, 1893, volume III, page 438. French. Accessed 28 October 2026. View source.
  128. Musée du Louvre, Apollo Slays Python, 1850–51; INV 3818. Collection record. French. Accessed 28 October 2026. View source.
  129. Sotheby’s, A Turkish Man on a Grey Horse, catalogued under Eugène Delacroix; sale N07716, 2001, lot 20. English. Accessed 28 October 2026. View source.
  130. Splash image, Liberty Leading the People, 1830. Musée du Louvre; RF 129. This reproduction predates the 2024 restoration. Image source. Public domain.

More DELACROIX Artworks

Liberty Leading the People — Eugène Delacroix
Liberty Leading the People
Death of Sardanapalus — Eugène Delacroix
Death of Sardanapalus
Massacre at Chios — Eugène Delacroix
Massacre at Chios
Women of Algiers — Eugène Delacroix
Women of Algiers
Barque of Dante — Eugène Delacroix
Barque of Dante
Greece on the Ruins of Missolonghi — Eugène Delacroix
Greece on the Ruins of Missolonghi
Orphan Girl at the Cemetery — Eugène Delacroix
Orphan Girl at the Cemetery
Jacob Wrestling with the Angel — Eugène Delacroix
Jacob Wrestling with the Angel