Even before his momentous journey to Morocco in 1832, Delacroix showed the fascination with exotic horsemen that would influence much of his work. This rare addition to the Museum's exceptionally fine collection of Delacroix's prints is one of two known impressions of the subject in the first state and, uniquely, bears the artist's extensive penciled corrections. (When held to raking light, the paper gleams with silvery graphite.)

At the time this image was made, Delacroix was under the powerful spell of Goya, whose etchings and aquatints demonstrated to him the wide range of tonal effects to be gained in a monochromatic medium. Today Delacroix, as Romanticism's chief painter, is renowned especially for his brilliant use of color. However, the artist's important production of graphic work reveals his lifelong urge to achieve greatness in black and white. In that respect he resembles closely his follower and champion Edgar Degas, whose close friend Alexis Rouart once owned this print.