This is one of eighteen watercolors Delacroix presented to his travel companion, the diplomat Charles de Mornay, following their return from North Africa. The artist executed a number of the works while the men were quarantined for two weeks in Toulon. Inspired by the quality of Mediterranean light observed during the journey, he adopted a brighter palette than he had used previously. His fascination with Moroccan costume is apparent here in the attention he lavished on the multilayered attire of the woman, especially compared to his more abstract approach to other decorative aspects of the scene.
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Credit Line:The Mr. and Mrs. Henry Ittleson Jr. Purchase Fund, 1963
Accession Number:63.215
A Moorish Couple on Their Terrace
Un Maure et une Mauresque sur leur Terrasse, or, Conversation Mauresque (per Robaut)
Signature: Pen and brown ink, lower left: Eug. Delacroix
Inscription: Sheet of paper pasted on back of mount with following inscription: 23303 Eugène Delacroix - 1832 (painted at Toulon)/ page 8#6 of volume of 18 watercolors presented by Delacroix (to comte Charles de Mornay - volume sold at auction (Hotel Drouot, Paris - Mar 29, 1877)
Comte Charles de Mornay(given by Delacroix); Hôtel Drouot, Paris(sale March 29, 1877, lot 6); M. Feral; M. Borthon, Dijon
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Classicism and Romanticism. French Drawings and Prints," September 15–November 1, 1970.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Drawings Recently Acquired, 1969–1971," January 18–April 16, 1972.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Eugène Delacroix (1798–1863): Paintings, Drawings, and Prints from North American Collections," April 10–June 16, 1991.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Drawings and Prints: Selections from the Permanent Collection," September 11–December 4, 2000.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Drawings and Prints: Selections from the Permanent Collection," March 26–June 24, 2007.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Devotion to Drawing: The Karen B. Cohen Collection of Eugène Delacroix," July 17–November 12, 2018.
Robaut 497; MMA 1991.26
Edwart Vignot Eugène Delacroix. Paris, p. 108, ill.
Hôtel Drouot, Paris Catalogue de Tableaux et Aquarelles par Eugene Delacroix Appartenant a M. Le Comte de Mornay. Sale cat. Paris, March 29, 1877, cat. no. 6, p. 8.
Alfred-Ernest Robaut L'Oeuvre complet d'Eugène Delacroix: Peintures, Dessins, Gravures, Lithographies. Paris, 1885, cat. no. 497, p. 133.
Agnes Mongan "Souvenirs of Delacroix's Journey to Morocco in American Collections." in Master Drawings. vol. 1, 1963.
Linda Boyer Gillies, Colta Ives, Jacob Bean Classicism and Romanticism: French Drawings and Prints, 1800-1860. Ex. cat. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1970, cat. no. 23, p. 5.
Jacob Bean Drawings Recently Acquired, 1969-1971. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art (January 18 - April 16). New York, 1972, cat. no. 65, p. 27.
Christopher Finch Nineteenth-Century Watercolors. Abbeville Press, New York, London, Paris, 1991, fig. no. 127, p. 106, ill.
Ashley Dunn, Colta Ives, Marjorie Shelley Delacroix Drawings: The Karen B. Cohen Collection. New York, 2018, cat. no. 55, pp. 88, 161, ill.
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