Eugène Delacroix

Ferdinand Victor Eugène Delacroix (April 26, 1798 - August 13, 1863) was an important painter from the French romantic period.

Liberty leading the people

Delacroix's most influential work came in 1830 with the painting, Liberty Leading the People. This painting serves to show the difference between the romantic style of painting and the neoclassical style of Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres. This powerful work is probably his best known painting, an unforgettable image of people gallantly marching forward under the banner of the tricolour representing liberty and freedom. He has used a blend of contemporary events, with a romantic image of the spirit of liberty, rather than many paintings which were either one or the other. The soldiers lying dead at the front right contrast with the figures fighting for liberty at the top. It seems liberty is winning, and it is as though she is bringing the forces together for the final battle.

Related Topics:
1830 - Liberty Leading the People - Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres

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The French government bought the painting but officials deemed its glorification of the idea of liberty as too inflammatory and removed it from public view. Nonetheless, Delacroix still received many government commissions for murals and ceiling paintings. He seems to have been trying to represent the spirit and the character of the people, rather than glorify the actual event, a revolution against King Charles X which did little other than bringing a different king, Louis Philippe, to power.

Related Topics:
King Charles X - Louis Philippe

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Following the Revolution of 1848 that saw the end of the reign of King Louis Philippe, Delacroix's painting, Liberty Leading the People, was finally put on display by the newly elected President, Napoleon III of France. Today, it is visible in the Louvre museum.

Related Topics:
Revolution of 1848 - King Louis Philippe - Napoleon III of France - Louvre

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The boy holding a gun up, on the right is sometimes thought to be an inspiration of the Gavroche character in Victor Hugo's Les Misérables novel.

Related Topics:
Gavroche - Victor Hugo - Les Misérables

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