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Eugène Delacroix
1798-1863
Study for Demasthenes
ca. 1844
Oil on paper laid down on canvas
9 1/2x 11 1/2 inches (241 x 292 mm)
Bequest of Alex Gordon.
2008.29
Notes:
The ancient Greek orator Demosthenes (384-322 BC) reportedly trained his voice by practicing on the seashore, talking over the roar of the waves while rolling pebbles in his mouth. When Delacroix was commissioned to paint the ceiling of the Deputies' library at the Palais Bourbon, Paris, he chose this subject to represent Eloquence. This sketch is for a spandrel of a cupola devoted to the theme of Law.
Gordon inv. G. 355.
Provenance:
Delacroix estate sale, Paris, 1864, lot 22; sale, London, Christie's, 22 December 1966, lot 484 [?]; purchased from Marshall Spink, Ltd., London, 18 March 1968.
Associated names:
Gordon, Alex, former owner.
Bibliography:
Robaut, no. 871, p. 224; Johnson, vol. 5, no. 536.
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