This is one of a number of late easel pictures in which Delacroix returns to themes previously treated in decorative programs. Delacroix may have first contemplated the subject of "Ovid among the Scythians" around 1835; his earliest treatment of it was as a pendentive in his decoration for the Palais Bourbon, Paris.

When the largest version of "Ovid among the Scythians" (now in the National Gallery, London) was exhibited at the 1859 Paris Salon, the unusual composition and strange scale of figures provoked criticism in the press, even among Delacroix's admirers (Baudelaire and Gautier, among others), although artists like Edgar Degas were deeply impressed. In this variant, Delacroix diverged from the Salon picture in several respects, integrating figures and landscape more closely.

In A.D. 8 Ovid was banished from Rome to the coast of the Black Sea (present day Constant, Romania). He found the Scythian custom of drinking mare's milk unusual. Delacroix took this episode from the French writer Chateaubriand.

Inscription: Signed and dated (lower left): Eug. Delacroix 1862

François Alfred Mosselman, Paris (until 1863; his sale, Hôtel Drouot, Paris, March 5, no. 13, as "Ovide chez les Scythes," for Fr 1,000); [possibly Durand-Ruel, Paris, by 1871]; [Galerie Georges Petit, Paris, until 1873; sold on March 4 for Fr 8,000 to Goupil]; [Goupil & Cie, Paris, 1873; stock no. 7768, sold on March 26 for Fr 9,500 to Schwabacher]; M. Schwabacher (1873–75; sold on January 26, 1875 to Goupil); [Goupil & Cie, Paris, 1875; stock no. 9646, sold in February for Fr 9,500 to Everard]; [P. L. Everard and Co., London, from 1875]; [E. Leroy & Cie, Paris, in 1885]; M. Bayer, Paris (by 1900 [deposited with Durand-Ruel, March 12–31, 1900]; his estate sale, Hôtel Drouot, Paris, June 26–27, 1905, no. 14, as "Ovide en exil chez les Scythes"); Jentien; [Galerie Georges Petit, Paris, until 1918; sold on May 29 to Bernheim-Jeune]; [Galerie Bernheim-Jeune, Paris, 1918–28; sold on November 23, 1928 to Tanner]; [Galerie Tanner, Zürich, from 1928]; private collection (possibly R. G. Bindschedler), Zürich (by January 1939–no later than 1964); Dr. R. L. Bindschedler, Zürich (by 1964); private collection, Bern (by 1986–2008; consigned to Sayn-Wittgenstein; sold in 2008 through Sayn-Wittgenstein Fine Art, New York, to MMA)

London. German Gallery. "First Annual Exhibition of the Society of French Artists," December 17, 1870–March 1871, no. 65 (as "Arab Encampment," added February 1871, possibly this picture [see Ref. Johnson 1986]).

London. German Gallery. "Second Annual Exhibition of the Society of French Artists," April 1871, no. 37 (as "Arabs," possibly this picture).

Paris. École Nationale des Beaux-Arts. "Exposition Eugène Delacroix au profit de la souscription destinée à élever à Paris un monument à sa mémoire," March 6–April 15, 1885, no. 128 (as "Ovide chez les Scythes," lent by MM. E. Leroy et Cie.).

Basel. Société des beaux-arts. "Exposition de peinture française," May 8–June 30, 1921, no. 88 (as lent by Bernheim-Jeune).

Paris. Chambre Syndicale de la Curiosité et des Beaux-Arts. "Exposition d'oeuvres d'art des XVIIIe, XIXe et XXe siècles," April 25–May 15, 1923, no. 189 (as lent by MM. Bernheim Jeune).

London. Independent Gallery. "A Few Masterpieces of French Painting (Ingres to Cézanne)," May–June 1925, no. 7 [see Refs. Webb 1925, Johnson 1986].

Paris. Paul Rosenberg. "Expositions [sic] d'oeuvres d'Eugène Delacroix (1798–1863) au profit de la Société des amis du Louvre," January 16–February 18, 1928, no. 39 (as "Ovide en exil chez les Scythes," lent by MM. Bernheim Jne. & Cie).

Kunsthaus Zürich. "Eugène Delacroix, 1798–1863," January 28–April 5, 1939, no. 375 (as "Ovide chez les Scythes," lent by a private collection, Zurich).

Kunsthalle Basel. "Eugène Delacroix, 1798–1863," April 22–May 29, 1939, no. 263 (as lent by a private collection, Zurich).

Kunsthaus Zürich. "Ausländische Kunst in Zürich," July 25–September 26, 1943, no. 81.

Kunsthaus Zürich. "Ausstellung Europäische Kunst 13.–20. Jahrhundert aus Zürcher Sammlungen," June 6–August 13, 1950, unnumbered cat. (as lent by a private collection).

Alfred Robaut. L'œuvre complet de Eugène Delacroix. Paris, 1885, pp. 386, 538, no. 1439, ill. (engraving), erroneously states that it is signed on the right and belongs to M. Choquet [sic], but elsewhere corrects this information, locating it with MM. Et. Leroy et Cie; lists a drawing (no. 1374, present location unknown) and two other paintings of this subject (no. 1375, present location unknown; no. 1376, National Gallery, London).

Étienne Moreau-Nélaton. Delacroix raconté par lui-même. Paris, 1916, vol. 2, pp. 187–88, 204, fig. 401, calls it both "Ovide chez les Scythes" and "Ovide exilé chez les Barbares".

Julius Meier-Graefe. Eugène Delacroix: Beiträge zu einer Analyse. Munich, 1922, ill. p. 231.

Geoffrey Webb. "Ingres to Cézanne." Burlington Magazine 46 (June 1925), p. 288, pl. IIB.

Raymond Escholier. Delacroix: Peintre, Graveur, Écrivain. 3, Paris, 1929, ill. opp. p. 260.

Louis Hourticq. Delacroix: L'œuvre du maître. Paris, 1930, p. 182, ill., as still in the collection of Bernheim-Jeune.

René Huyghe. Delacroix. New York, 1963, p. 418, colorpl. LVI, as in a private collection, Switzerland.

Martin Davies with additions and some revisions by Cecil Gould in French School: Early 19th Century, Impressionists, Post-Impressionists, etc. London, 1970, pp. 58–59 nn. 10–11, calls it a smaller version with some variations of the 1859 painting (National Gallery, London).

Lee Johnson. The Paintings of Eugène Delacroix: A Critical Catalogue. 3, Oxford, 1986, pp. 139, 151, 158–59, no. 345, calls it a variant of the London painting, but finds it closer to the oil sketch, which he dates about 1855; suggests that "Delacroix heeded the widespread criticism at the Salon of the dominance of the mare at the expense of the hero" by representing Ovid on a larger scale in the MMA picture.

Lee Johnson. The Paintings of Eugène Delacroix: A Critical Catalogue. 4, Oxford, 1986, pl. 143.

Barthélémy Jobert. Delacroix. Paris, 1997, pp. 295, 327 n. 144, as in a private collection, Bern.

Gary Tinterow in "Recent Acquisitions, A Selection: 2007–2008." Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin 66 (Fall 2008), p. 38, ill. (color).

Colta Ives in Une passion pour Delacroix: La collection Karen B. Cohen. Exh. cat., Musée National Eugène Delacroix. Paris, 2009, pp. 30, 34.

Barthélémy Jobert in Une passion pour Delacroix: La collection Karen B. Cohen. Exh. cat., Musée National Eugène Delacroix. Paris, 2009, p. 25.

There are two other versions of this subject created after Delacroix's earliest treatment of the theme: an oil sketch (about 1855; present location unknown; Robaut 1375; J318) and an oil painting (1859; National Gallery, London; Robaut 1376; J334).