Delacroix’s first official religious commission was a painting for the church of Saint-Paul-Saint-Louis in Paris. This study establishes the basic composition: Christ props himself up against a rock, bows his head, and raises his hand to acknowledge acceptance of his fate, announced by the mourning angels in the upper right. Delacroix’s use of wash, with its emphasis on tone, establishes the symbolic importance of light in the picture; it radiates from the angels and Christ himself amid the darkness of the garden.
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Dimensions:Overall: 5 1/4 x 7 5/8 in. (13.4 x 19.4 cm)
Classification:Drawings
Credit Line:Gift from the Karen B. Cohen Collection of Eugène Delacroix, in memory of Jacob Bean, 2013
Object Number:2013.1135.4
Marking: Stamped in red ink, lower right: Delacroix estate mark (Lugt 838a)
Vente Delacroix1864 (part of lot 311); Auguste Vacquerie (French), (bought from Vente Delacroix 1864, no. 311); Madame E. Lefèvre (French)(passed to her son); Monsieur P. Lefèvre-Vacquerie (French), (son of Mme. E. LeFevre); By descent to Madame A. Gaveau (French)(daughter of M. LeFevre-Vacquerie); Sotheby's, Monaco, 3 Dec. 1989, lot 523; Jill Newhouse (American)(sold to Karen B. Cohen, 1990)
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 21–November 30, 1998.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Romanticism and the School of Nature: Nineteenth-Century Drawings and Paintings from the Karen B. Cohen Collection," October 17, 2000–January 21, 2001.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Devotion to Drawing: The Karen B. Cohen Collection of Eugène Delacroix," July 17–November 12, 2018.
Robaut 1522; MMA 1991.21; MMA 2000.32; Escholier I, repr. p.172; Johnson I, no. 154, pl. 136.
Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts Exposition d'Oeuvres de Eugene Delacroix. Paris, 1864, cat. no. 173.
Jill Newhouse Eugene Delacroix: A Selection of Drawings. Dealer catalogue. New York, 1990, cat. no. 1.
Jacob Bean, Lee Johnson, William M. Griswold Eugène Delacroix (1798-1863): Paintings, Drawings, and Prints from North American Collections. Ex. cat. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1991, cat. no. 21, p. 87, ill.
Colta Ives, Elizabeth E. Barker Romanticism and the School of Nature : Nineteenth-Century Drawings and Paintings from the Karen B. Cohen Collection. Exh. cat.: October 17 - January 21, 2001. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Yale University Press, New York, 2000, cat. no. 32, pp. 68-69, ill.
Christophe Leribault Une passion pour Delacroix: la collection Karen B. Cohen. Paris, 2009, cat. no. 16, p. 46, ill.
Ashley Dunn, Colta Ives, Marjorie Shelley Delacroix Drawings: The Karen B. Cohen Collection. New York, 2018, cat. no. 22, pp. 61, 158, ill.
Managing Editor Michael Cirigliano II takes a walk through an exhibition of works on paper by Eugène Delacroix with Assistant Curator Ashley Dunn to discuss Delacroix's artistic practice, as well as his love of nature and literature.
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The Met's collection of drawings and prints—one of the most comprehensive and distinguished of its kind in the world—began with a gift of 670 works from Cornelius Vanderbilt, a Museum trustee, in 1880.
