Interior of the Church of Valmont Abbey

This drawing of the church at Valmont in Normandy shows Delacroix’s masterful handling of the wash medium to create a shadowy ambience. During his visits to his cousin’s estate there, Delacroix was especially transfixed by the partially ruined fifteenth-century church on the property, which appealed to his Romantic imagination. After his first trip, he recalled, "Above all, the old church, half-ruined, where there were tombs, great Gothic windows with dark stained glass, and vaults containing the foundations of the abbey, all of these things inspired a host of romantic ideas." The dreamlike atmosphere conjured by the artist in this wash drawing corresponds with his written reflections on the church as a space of reverie.