Among his North African subjects, Delacroix returned repeatedly to Sultan Abd er-Rahman, the Moroccan ruler the French diplomatic mission had gone to meet. (Their aim, following the French invasion of Algeria in 1830, was to seek his cooperation to maintain control of the neighboring occupied territory.) Not long after the encounter took place, Delacroix made this compositional study based on his recollections and notes from the day. The drawing includes all the main protagonists: the sultan on horseback, two of his ministers at left, a military chief near the center with his back to the viewer, and French diplomat Charles de Mornay immediately to the right, accompanied by his interpreter.
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Dimensions:Overall: 7 5/8 x 9 15/16 in. (19.4 x 25.2 cm)
Classification:Drawings
Credit Line:Gift from the Karen B. Cohen Collection of Eugène Delacroix, in honor of Henri Loyrette, 2013
Object Number:2013.1135.20
Inscription: Inscribed in brown ink, top: "je l'ais empris bien en aviengne" [see notes]
Marking: Stamped in red ink, lower right: Delacroix estate mark (Lugt 838a)
Eugène Delacroix (French)(his estate sale, Paris, part of no. 351); M. Theodore Petitjean; Martin Hubrecht(as of 1930); Sotheby's, London(sale June 20, 1989, lot 7 by Jill Newhouse); Jill Newhouse (American)(sold to Karen B. Cohen, 1989)
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. "Romanticism and the School of Nature: Nineteenth-Century Drawings and Paintings from the Karen B. Cohen Collection," October 17, 2000–January 21, 2001.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Drawings and Prints: Selections from the Permanent Collection," October 8–December 8, 2014.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Devotion to Drawing: The Karen B. Cohen Collection of Eugène Delacroix," July 17–November 12, 2018.
Robaut, nos. 928-936 (first vignette, p. 243); Johnson III, p. 180 (painting); MMA 1991.29; MMA 2000.39.
Alfred-Ernest Robaut L'Oeuvre complet d'Eugène Delacroix: Peintures, Dessins, Gravures, Lithographies. Paris, 1885, cat. no. 928-936, p. 243, ill.
Musées Nationaux , Palais du Louvre Exposition Eugene Delacroix. Paris, France, 1930, cat. no. 438, p. 219.
Elie Lambert "Histoire d'un tableau L'Abd Er Rahman Sultan du Maroc de Delacroix." Collection Hésperis Institut des hautes-études marocaines. no. 14, Paris, 1953, cat. no. 22, fig. no. pl. XVII, p. 44, ill.
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. 29, p. 96, 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. 39, pp. 82-83, ill.
Christophe Leribault Une passion pour Delacroix: la collection Karen B. Cohen. Paris, 2009, cat. no. 66, p. 97, ill.
Ashley Dunn, Colta Ives, Marjorie Shelley Delacroix Drawings: The Karen B. Cohen Collection. New York, 2018, cat. no. 57, pp. 90, 161, ill.
Dominique de Font-Réaulx Delacroix: La liberté d'être soi. Cohen and Cohen, Paris, 2018, fig. no. 118, pp. 174-175, 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.
Associate Curator Cora Michael showcases a selection of drawings by Eugène Delacroix recently added to the Museum's collection thanks to a generous gift by longtime trustee Karen B. Cohen.
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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.
