id: 114161 accession number: 1933.418 share license status: CC0 url: https://clevelandart.org/art/1933.418 updated: 2024-03-26 01:57:23.964000 Armored Figure on Horseback (recto); Horse in Front of a Barn (verso), c. 1828. Eugène Delacroix (French, 1798–1863). Graphite and brush and brown wash; sheet: 27 x 39.7 cm (10 5/8 x 15 5/8 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Dudley P. Allen Fund 1933.418 title: Armored Figure on Horseback (recto); Horse in Front of a Barn (verso) title in original language: series: series in original language: creation date: c. 1828 creation date earliest: 1823 creation date latest: 1833 current location: creditline: Dudley P. Allen Fund copyright: --- culture: France, 19th century technique: graphite and brush and brown wash department: Drawings collection: DR - French type: Drawing find spot: catalogue raisonne: --- CREATORS * Eugène Delacroix (French, 1798–1863) - artist Eugène Delacroix studied under history painter Pierre-Narcisse Guérin (1774-1833) and at the École des Beaux-Arts, though he did not succeed in competitions there. He soon befriended romantic painter Théodore Géricault (1791-1824) and exhibited at his first Salon in 1822 his powerful, moody The Barque of Dante (Musée du Louvre, Paris). In the next Salon, inspired by the recent events in the Greeks' struggle for independence against the Turks, Delacroix showed Scenes from the Massacres at Chios (Musée du Louvre, Paris), a painting whose anti-academic composition, free brushwork, and brilliant color caused hostile critics to accuse the artist of the "massacre of painting." Nevertheless, he was awarded a Salon medal and the state purchased the picture. After the early death of Géricault, the young artist became the titular head of the French romantic artistic movement, as much for his innovative technique as his new themes. Widely read and an Anglophile, Delacroix drew frequently from British literature, especially Shakespeare, Byron, and Sir Walter Scott. He also developed a strong interest in orientalist subjects, spurred by the five-month trip to Morocco and southern Spain he took in 1832. He stressed the creative and imaginative elements of painting and opposed the academy for its rote learning and the bourgeoisie for its overly materialistic interests. Delacroix discussed his aesthetic ideas with an ever-expanding circle of writers, musicians, and artists that he frequented, including pianist-composer Frédéric Chopin and writer George Sand. But ultimately he developed a personal conception of beauty that could only be expressed in an individualized manner. Recent studies have revised the long-standing interpretation of Delacroix as a radical, anticlassical, misunderstood, and unsupported genius. He greatly admired antiquity and the classical authors but insisted on avoiding the narrow or didactic view of them offered by the academies. He may not have emulated classical statuary as sources for his figures, but he did often represent heroic nude figures. For all his insistence on invention, Delacroix retained some sense of documentary reconstruction, for he made numerous studies of costumes and weapons and did other kinds of research before tackling certain subjects. From the beginning and throughout his career, Delacroix received many religious and historical painting commissions, from provincial churches to government buildings, under different rulers and even political systems. His allegorical work Liberty Leading the Barricades (1830-31, Musée du Louvre, Paris) represents the only painting in which the artist referred to a contemporary political event in France, the revolution that overthrew Louis XVIII and the Bourbon monarchy. This, too, was purchased by the state. In 1833 he was asked to decorate with allegories the Salon du Roi of the Palais Bourbon, the seat of the deputies. Their success brought him additional commissions in the same building, such as the library (1838), and then the library in the senate (1841-46), housed in the Palais du Luxembourg. His historical, religious, and allegorical paintings were often criticized by more conservative critics for a lack of decorum, anatomical distortions, too-bright or unnaturalistic color, and free brushwork, but he continued to find work because he was one of the few artists who continued to explore these "elevated" genres and had a sure sense of the decorative. Extremely prolific, Delacroix accomplished a major mural commission for the church of Saint-Sulpice in Paris (1850-63) the year before his death. He was even elected in 1857 to the Académie des Beaux-Arts, but younger artists consistently regarded him as antiestablishment and a paragon of artistic experimentation. He wrote extensively on art and aesthetic issues, both in his private diaries and for published journals.1 1. Recently, scholars such as Michele Hannoosh, Painting and the Journal of Eugene Delacroix (Princeton, 1995), have examined the content and style of Delacroix's texts for what they might tell about Delacroix the writer as well as the work and creative process of Delacroix the artist. Delacroix was one of the most innovative and successful painters of the first half of the 19th century. He is known as the last great history painter and his art is the ideal of Romanticism in the visual arts. Delacroix's career is marked by the paradox between the revolutionary and the conventional. He was in conflict with the artist Ingres and was seen as the leading figure of the French Romantic movement; he was famed for undermining the tradition of painting established by David, yet he benefited from official patronage from the beginning of the Restoration (1814-1830) until the Second Empire (1852-1870). --- measurements: Sheet: 27 x 39.7 cm (10 5/8 x 15 5/8 in.) state of the work: edition of the work: support materials: inscriptions: --- CURRENT EXHIBITIONS title: Exhibition of Drawings from the Museum Collection Supplemented by Loans from Local Collections opening date: 1935-07-12T04:00:00 Exhibition of Drawings from the Museum Collection Supplemented by Loans from Local Collections. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (July 12-September 15, 1935). title: Drawings from the Museum Collection opening date: 1937-05-28T04:00:00 Drawings from the Museum Collection. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (May 28-December 9, 1937). title: Old Master Drawings from the Museum Collection opening date: 1939-01-04T05:00:00 Old Master Drawings from the Museum Collection. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (January 4-March 26, 1939). title: Drawings from the Museum Collection opening date: 1940-07-11T04:00:00 Drawings from the Museum Collection. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (July 11-October 3, 1940). title: Drawings from the Museum Collection opening date: 1941-03-04T05:00:00 Drawings from the Museum Collection. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (March 4-April 27, 1941). title: The Silver Jubilee Exhibition opening date: 1941-06-23T04:00:00 The Silver Jubilee Exhibition. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (June 23-September 28, 1941). title: French Drawings and Watercolors from French Public and Private Collections opening date: 1942-01-06T05:00:00 French Drawings and Watercolors from French Public and Private Collections. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (January 6-February 15, 1942). title: Drawings from the Museum Collection opening date: 1942-06-17T04:00:00 Drawings from the Museum Collection. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (June 17-August 24, 1942). title: 19th and 20th Century French Art and Leonard C. Hanna, Jr. Loans opening date: 1943-06-22T04:00:00 19th and 20th Century French Art and Leonard C. Hanna, Jr. Loans. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (June 22-September 1, 1943). title: 19th-Century French Drawings opening date: 1947-03-08T05:00:00 19th-Century French Drawings. Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco, Legion of Honor, San Francisco, CA (organizer) (March 8-April 6, 1947). title: Baron Gros, Painter of Battles: The First Romantic Painter opening date: 1956-03-08T05:00:00 Baron Gros, Painter of Battles: The First Romantic Painter. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (March 8-April 15, 1956). title: Department of Prints and Drawings Opening Exhibition opening date: 1958-03-03T05:00:00 Department of Prints and Drawings Opening Exhibition. The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer) (March 3, 1958-October 11, 1959). title: French Drawings from American Collections: Clouet to Matisse opening date: 1958-07-31T04:00:00 French Drawings from American Collections: Clouet to Matisse. Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Rotterdam, Netherlands (July 31-September 28, 1958); Musée de l'Orangerie, Paris, France (October 24, 1958-January 2, 1959); The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY (February 3-March 15, 1959). title: Italian and French Drawings opening date: 1959-10-13T04:00:00 Italian and French Drawings. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (October 13, 1959-February 2, 1960). title: Aspects of Drawing opening date: 1961-01-10T05:00:00 Aspects of Drawing. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (January 10-April 2, 1961). title: Water Color opening date: 1962-06-06T04:00:00 Water Color. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (June 6-August 27, 1962). title: Drawings opening date: 1963-01-11T05:00:00 Drawings. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (January 11-September 10, 1963). title: The Graphic Works of Delacroix opening date: 1963-09-18T04:00:00 The Graphic Works of Delacroix. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (September 18-November 3, 1963). title: European Watercolors Through the 18th Century opening date: 1964-01-14T05:00:00 European Watercolors Through the 18th Century. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (January 14-March 22, 1964). title: Drawings: France, Italy, Netherlands opening date: 1965-01-01T05:00:00 Drawings: France, Italy, Netherlands. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (January 1-March 24, 1965). title: French Drawings opening date: 1965-11-16T05:00:00 French Drawings. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (November 16, 1965-February 16, 1966). title: Eugene Delacroix et la Bataille de Nancy (Eugene Delacroix and the Battle of Nancy) opening date: 1978-11-15T05:00:00 Eugene Delacroix et la Bataille de Nancy (Eugene Delacroix and the Battle of Nancy). Musée des Beaux-Arts de Nancy, 5400 Nancy, France (organizer) (November 15, 1978-February 12, 1979). title: Seventeenth-, Eighteenth-, and Early Nineteenth-Century Genre and French Prints and Drawings opening date: 1979-05-31T04:00:00 Seventeenth-, Eighteenth-, and Early Nineteenth-Century Genre and French Prints and Drawings. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (May 31-August 19, 1979). title: Brush Drawings opening date: 1981-03-03T05:00:00 Brush Drawings. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (March 3-May 10, 1981). title: Northern European Drawings from the Cleveland Museum of Art opening date: 1982-11-16T05:00:00 Northern European Drawings from the Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (November 16, 1982-January 9, 1983). title: Eugene Delacroix opening date: 1987-06-04T04:00:00 Eugene Delacroix. Kunsthaus Zürich, Zurich, Switzerland (organizer) (June 4-August 23, 1987); Städelsches Kunstinstitut im Städtischen Kunstinstitut Frankfurt am Main, Franfurt am Main, Germany (September 23, 1987-January 4, 1988). title: Rococo, Revolution, Restoration opening date: 1989-07-11T04:00:00 Rococo, Revolution, Restoration. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (July 11-September 24, 1989). title: French Drawings from the Collection opening date: 1994-12-13T05:00:00 French Drawings from the Collection. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (December 13, 1994-March 12, 1995). --- LEGACY EXHIBITIONS * {'description': 'Forty Drawings from the Collection. Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (May 21-Dec. 13, 1936).', 'opening_date': '1936-05-21T00:00:00'} * {'description': 'Lace and Drawings from the Museum Collection. Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (Dec. 16, 1936-Jan. 3, 1937).', 'opening_date': '1936-12-16T00:00:00'} * {'description': 'Drawings by Old and Modern Masters from the Collection. Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (June 21-Sep. 30, 1938).', 'opening_date': '1938-06-21T00:00:00'} * {'description': 'Drawings from the Collection. Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (Oct. 28, 1941-before Jan. 6, 1942)', 'opening_date': '1941-10-28T00:00:00'} * {'description': 'Paintings and Drawings from the Collection. Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (Dec. 14, 1943-Jan. 4, 1944).', 'opening_date': '1943-12-14T00:00:00'} * {'description': "Drawings from the Collection. (Director's Corridor) Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (July 27, 1944-May 14, 1946).", 'opening_date': '1944-07-27T00:00:00'} * {'description': "Drawings from the Collection. (Director's Corridor) Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (May 14, 1946-Feb. 7, 1947).", 'opening_date': '1946-05-14T00:00:00'} * {'description': 'Drawings from the Collection. Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (rearranged Jan. 21, 1953).', 'opening_date': '1953-01-21T00:00:00'} * {'description': '"Gallery List of Drawings" Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (Mar. 7-Apr. 26, 1962).', 'opening_date': '1962-03-07T00:00:00'} * {'description': '"Gallery List of Drawings" Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (Sep. 19-Nov. 5, 1962).', 'opening_date': '1962-09-19T00:00:00'} * {'description': '"Gallery List of Drawings" Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (Apr. 27, 1972-Feb. 2, 1973).', 'opening_date': '1972-04-27T00:00:00'} * {'description': 'Eugène Delacroix et La Bataille de Nancy. Musée des Beaux Arts, Nancy, France (Nov. 15, 1978-Feb. 12, 1979).', 'opening_date': '1978-11-15T00:00:00'} * {'description': 'Eugène Delacroix: Zeichnungen, Aquarelle, Graphik. Kunsthaus Zürich (June 5-Aug. 23, 1987).', 'opening_date': '1987-06-05T00:00:00'} --- PROVENANCE (Richard Owen [1873-1946], Paris, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH) date: ?-1933 footnotes: citations: The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH date: 1933- footnotes: citations: --- fun fact: digital description: wall description: --- RELATED WORKS --- CITATIONS French Drawings of the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Century: From the Collection of Richard Owen of Paris: October 16th to November 6th. Exh. Cat. New York: Brummer Gallery, 1933. page number: Mentioned: no. 59 url: 19th-Century French Drawings. Exh. Cat. San Francisco: California Palace of the Legion of Honor, 1947. page number: Mentioned: no. 29 url: Shoolman, Regina, and Charles E. Slatkin. Six Centuries of French Master Drawings in America. New York: Oxford University Press, 1950. page number: Mentioned: p. 132; Reproduced: pl. 74 url: The Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art Handbook. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1958. page number: Mentioned and Reproduced: cat. no. 599 url: https://archive.org/details/CMAHandbook1958/page/n112 French Drawings from American Collections, Clouet to Matisse. Exh. Cat. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1959. page number: Mentioned: p. 83, cat. no. 111; Reproduced: pl. 120 url: "Mostre Musei Gallerie" Sele Arte, vol. XI (March-April, 1963): 41-49. page number: Reproduced: p. 44, fig. 61 url: The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1966. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1966. page number: Reproduced: p. 167 url: https://archive.org/details/CMAHandbook1966/page/n191 The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1969. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1969. page number: Reproduced: p. 167 url: https://archive.org/details/CMAHandbook1969/page/n191 The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1978. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1978. page number: Reproduced: p. 206 url: https://archive.org/details/CMAHandbook1978/page/n226 Szeemann, Harald. Eugène Delacroix: Zeichnungen, Aquarelle, Graphik. Exh. Cat. Zürich: Kunsthaus Zürich, 1987. page number: Mentioned: p. 13; Reproduced: p. 14, fig. 26 url: Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland, Ohio: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1991. page number: Reproduced url: Sjöberg, Yves. Delacroix (798-1863): Chevaux et Félins: Aquarelles, Dessins, Peintures. Paris: Bibliothèque de l'image, 2011. page number: Reproduced: p. 74 url: --- IMAGES web: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1933.418/1933.418_web.jpg print: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1933.418/1933.418_print.jpg full: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1933.418/1933.418_full.tif