Figure Studies related to "Liberty Leading the People"
1830
Medium
Pen and brown ink, brush and brown wash
Dimensions
Overall: 8 7/16 x 13 7/16 in. (21.5 x 34.2 cm)
Classification
Drawings
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Gift from the Karen B. Cohen Collection of Eugène Delacroix, in honor of Keith Christiansen, 2013
Accession Number
2013.1135.12
Tags
Art Historical Context
Eugène Delacroix, master of French Romanticism, created theseFigure Studies related to "Liberty Leading the"* in 1830 amid the fervor of the July Revolution. uprising toppled the Bourbon monarchy of Charles X, igniting Paris with calls for liberty and republican ideals. Delacroix channeled this revolutionary spirit into his monumental painting *Liberty Leading the People* (1830), now housed in the Louvre, where a bare-breasted Marianne rallies diverse fighters—workers, students, and bourgeoisie—over a barricade strewn with the fallen. These preparatory drawings capture the raw energy of that i...
About the Artist
Eugène Delacroix · 1798–1863
Eugène Delacroix (1798–1863) stands as the defining figure of French Romanticism and a pivotal bridge to modernism. Born in Charenton-Saint-Maurice near Paris, he came from distinguished lineage—his mother descended from the prestigious Oeben-Riesener furniture dynasty, while persistent speculation suggested the statesman Talleyrand may have been his biological father, a theory supported by physic...