Ferdinand-Victor-Eugène Delacroix

Ancienne collection Pierret

Aquarelles et dessins de Delacroix, Paris, Galerie Dausset, 1953, no. 4

Gilberte Martin-Méry, Delacroix, ses maîtres, ses amis, ses élèves, Bordeaux 1963, no. 85

Very good overall condition. One small stain in the center on the left, visible on the catalogue. The drawing is slightly lighter than illustration.
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Vers 1818-24

Dans sa jeunesse, Eugène Delacroix se forma en étudiant l'oeuvre des grands maîtres. Il s'inspira notamment de Pierre-Paul Rubens dont il appréciait la palette de couleurs. Il copia également les Caprices de Francisco José de Goya dont il aimait les visages proches de la caricature. Le dessin que nous présentons est un très bel exemple de ces oeuvres inspirées des grands maîtres.

Delacroix connaissait l'oeuvre de Goya grâce à son ami Félix Guillemardet dont le père fut ambassadeur de France en Espagne de 1798 à 1800. Plusieurs dessins à la plume et à l'encre brune, d'après Goya, sont conservés au musée du Louvre, dont le célèbre Ane en costume de ville. 
Notre dessin, très inspiré par Goya, est assez différent stylistiquement des copies que Delacroix a dessinées d'après Les Caprices. En revanche on retrouve dans d'autres dessins de jeunesse la même technique, faite de hachures appuyées.¹

La représentation d'une rose à l'aquarelle montre que Delacroix était très intéressé par le monde botanique dont il s'inspira toute sa vie; en témoignent de nombreuses oeuvres graphiques et peintes où apparaissent des éléments végétaux, qu'il a notamment dessinés chez son amie Georges Sand à Nohant.

1. Repertoriés dans l'Inventaire géneral des dessins de l'école française, dessins d'Eugène Delacroix, t.II, Paris 1984, n°26, 260, 577, 578, 588 etc...

In his youth, Delacroix trained by studying the works of the great masters. He was particularly inspired by Peter-Paul Rubens, whose palette he greatly appreciated. He also copied the Capricios of Francisco José de Goya, in which he was attracted to the almost caricatural faces. The drawing presented here is a very fine example of such a work inspired by the great masters.

Delacroix knew the work of Goya thanks to his friend Félix Guillemardet, whose father was France's ambassador to Spain from 1798 to 1800. Many drawings after Goya in pen and brown ink are now in the Louvre, including the famous Donkey in City Clothes. Our drawing, though very much inspired by Goya, is rather different in style from the copies that Delacroix drew after the Capricios. Yet at the same time, it can be convincingly compared with many other youthful drawings by the artist.¹

The watercolour depiction of the rose demonstrates Delacroix's great interest in the botanical world, which inspired him throughout his life; witness to this are the numerous drawn and painted works  including elements of vegetation, many of which he studied at the house of his friend Georges Sand, at Nohant.

1. See Inventaire géneral des dessins de l'école française, dessins d'Eugène Delacroix, vol. II, Paris 1984, nos 26, 260, 577, 578, 588 etc...