Sketchbook with views of Tours, France and its environs

1828–29
Not on view
Delacroix recorded numerous visits to the zoo and the natural history museum at the Jardin des Plantes in Paris, where he could sketch lions from life and carefully study taxidermied specimens. He described the experience as a revitalizing one that encouraged his attention to nature: "How necessary it is to . . . stick one’s head out of doors and try to read from creation, which has nothing in common with cities and the works of man." This sheet, inscribed February 12, likely dates from 1829; it comes from a now disbound sketchbook that otherwise contained drawings from the artist's 1828 visit to Tours in the Loire Valley.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Sketchbook with views of Tours, France and its environs
  • Artist: Eugène Delacroix (French, Charenton-Saint-Maurice 1798–1863 Paris)
  • Date: 1828–29
  • Medium: Graphite and watercolor on wove paper
  • Dimensions: 36 folios, each sheet: 4 15/16 x 7 11/16 in. (12.5 x 19.5 cm)
  • Classifications: Drawings, Sketchbooks
  • Credit Line: Gift of Alexander and Gregoire Tarnopol, 1969
  • Object Number: 69.165.2
  • Curatorial Department: Drawings and Prints

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