If I ask you about the significance of Eugène Delacroix, what would be your first thought on it? Like, obviously there were numerous artists in France, but why does Eugène have the utmost importance among them? If you are probably wondering about the right answer, let me tell you something about him. When Charles Baudelaire gave an affirmation in his L’art Romantique about Eugène, he was pretty clear that there was no man better equipped than the poet of Les Fleurs du Mal to make us understand the greatness of the tremendous and solitary painter Eugène Delacroix. An embracing artist, Delacroix handled every style smoothly and was one of the prodigious draftsmen, who could manage to paint using every technique whether pencil, pen, wash, watercolor, or pastel, and besides was skillful in lithography. The best works of the artist in lithography can be clearly seen in Goethe’s Faust and Shakespeare’s Hamlet. There was a certain complexity in his art, which lies primarily in the imaginative power that was the basis of his creative process. The Liberal journalist Auguste Vacquerie proclaimed him a prodigious modernist after seeing the exhibition of 1885. Many more artists and critics considered him superior in the artistic world as he revolutionized art by including even classical subjects to give them a modernist look. Truly embedded in his art, Delacroix never added political opinions to his art, but the event of the 1830 July Revolution particularly disturbed him. And this is why he composed an artwork based upon it, Liberty Leading the People, one of his most celebrated and controversial paintings. The painting is significant for us to study because it was one of the rare events that foray into illustrating the contemporary social or political events composed by Eugène Delacroix. For once, he found his moving drama not in the historical events or romance but in the reality of contemporary life. I will tell you more about the revolution in later sections of the article. Let us now move to learning the artwork.
Liberty Leading the People | Fast Knowledge
Liberty Leading the People is an 1830 oil on canvas painting by the Romanticism artist Eugène Delacroix, which portrays a potentially inflammatory republican message. Being one of the most celebrated and controversial paintings and residing in the Louvre Museum Paris, it was a rare artwork by Delacroix that portrays contemporary, social, or political events.
General Information About Liberty Leading the People.
1. Artist’s Statement.
“The first merit of painting is to be a feast for the eye.”
Eugène Delacroix.
One of the greatest writing about Eugène Delacroix was by Liberal journalist, Auguste Vacquerie,
“Yes, modern in the Middle Ages, modern in antiquity, modern beyond time. Because it is a mistake to believe that one can only be contemporary through contemporary subjects. One can be modern in the most ancient and legendary subjects because in every work there are two components, the artist and the subject… Delacroix, so restless, so convulsive, prey to every anxiety and, despite all, resplendent with the immense promise of the future, was one of the most honest personifications of this great nineteenth century. How could he fail to imbue his canvases with what he was and what was within him?”
2. Subject Matter.
The subject matter of the Liberty Leading the People painting is the unfortunate allegorical figure of Liberty, who is wearing a long dress with clumsy draperies, naked breasts, a weapon in another hand, and a badly painted tricolor flag. Although the woman is a symbol, it represents a change from the fleshier, more realistic women he depicted during his early career to the smooth-skinned, straight-nosed, and monumental creatures seen in later paintings.
Delacroix portrays this allegorical female, which represents Liberty amid the dirt and the bloodstained victims of an actual battle. To the leftmost corner, one man wears an apron, working skirt, and sailor’s trousers as he holds a briquet, identifying himself as a factory worker. His attire is not yet complete, as there is a handkerchief around his waist that secures a pistol. The white cockade and a red ribbon finally identify his revolutionary sensibilities and complete his look.
Nearby him, the artist adds a counterpoint of social status through a young man, wearing a black top hat, an open-collared white shirt, and a cravat with an elegantly tailored black coat. Rather than holding numerous military weapons, he holds a hunting shotgun. These two figures make clear that the revolution was not only for economically downtrodden people.
On the left side of the painting, an adolescent falls, wearing a light infantry bicorne and holding a short saber as he struggles to regain his footing among the piled cobblestones. This also tells that the revolution was not bound to age.
The most famous of the pair, however, can be seen on the right side of the painting. Hugo’s character Gavroche in Les Misérables is often thought to be inspired by this boy, who wildly wields two pistols. Wearing a faluche (a black velvet beret common to students) and carrying what appears to be a school or cartridge satchel (with an embroidered crest), he appears to be a student.
There are a lot more things in the artwork, which is why I will tell you every detail in the later sections of the article.
3. Artist.
Eugène Delacroix, one of the most famous French modernists, painted the composition, Liberty Leading the People. Delacroix’s paintings had a creative profusion, amazing range, variety of subjects, and sentiments, which stands today by Romanticism, a term which Delacroix distrusted but was connected to his name and artworks since the early 1820s.
In one of the famous avowals to Silvestre, he conceded,
“If by my romanticism one understands the free manifestation of my personal impressions, my aversion to the models copied in the schools, and my loathing for academic formulas, I must confess that not only am I romantic, but I was so at the age of fifteen; I already preferred Prud’hon and Gros to Guerin and Girodet.”
Being trained under Pierre-Narcisse Guérin and in the École des Beaux-Arts, he was the perfect student who was very much talented. He drew the first of those anatomical paintings referred to by Lasalle-Bordes, further forming a habit of sketching from prints. He exhibited his first Salon painting, The Barque of Dante, in April 1822, which established his reputation as one of the most powerful and new-talented artists.
He always held by the fact that “every exaggeration must be in keeping with nature and the idea.” In other words, the artwork must never be used for its own sake, which would be an affectation, but rather to emphasize a natural characteristic or the spiritual content of a work of art- the speed and frenzy of a horse, for example.
4. Date.
Liberty Leading the People painting dates back to the year 1830.
5. Provenance.
A brief and little provenance of the artwork is that Delacroix painted this composition based on the timeline between 27 to 29 July 1830, the July Revolution, which overthrew Charles X and his Ultra Government. At this time, historically, there were several attempts to create the Second Republic, which led to frustrations following the Duc d’Orleans ascending to the throne as Louis Philippe, King of France.
All these events inspired Delacroix to paint Liberty Leading the People, which he probably began in the autumn, and completed around the end of the year. In the Palais Bourbon, the new government announced on 30 September that three paintings would be selected to decorate the wall behind the rostrum in the new Chamber of Deputies. Delacroix will submit oil sketches for two of them: Mirabeau confronts the Marquis de Dreux-Brézé and Boissy d’Anglas at the National Convention, the closing fates being 1 February and 1 April 1831 respectively.
In a letter to the Artist’s brother, he said that he had not conquered for the fatherland he would at least paint for it. Though the artwork was later purchased by the new Interior Ministry as a sop to the King’s liberal supporters, it was rarely displayed in public to show a potentially republican message.
I will tell you the entire provenance of the painting in later sections of the article.
6. Location.
Liberty Leading the People is on exhibition in the Louvre Museum, Paris.
7. Technique and Medium.
The artwork has an oil on canvas medium.
| Artist | Eugene Delacroix |
| Year Painted | 1830 |
| Genre | Allegorical or Historical Painting |
| Period | Romanticism |
| Medium | Oil on canvas |
| Dimensions | 260 x 325 cm |
| Price | Not on sale |
| Where is it housed? | Louvre Museum, Paris |
In-Depth Description of Eugène Delacroix’s Political Frame.
About the Artist: Eugène Delacroix.
Truly an enfant du siecle, Delacroix came from an age in a period of tumultuous transition and acute disillusionment, wherein the poet Alfred de Musset found ‘all young hearts… condemned to inaction by the powers that governed the world, delivered to vulgar pendants of every kind, to idleness and to ennui.’
Born into a family of Haute Bourgeoisie republicans on the 7th Floréal of the year VI, as the Republican Calender or 26th April 1798, Eugene’s father was Napoleon’s Foreign Minister, and his older brother, Charles-Henri Delacroix, was a general in the army. Further, Eugène had the most mercurial diplomat of the era as his eventual protector, Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord. His father, Charles Delacroix was an ardent Republican who was very much active in the political life of his country and filled for the posts of Minister for Foreign Affairs, Ambassador to Vienna, Departmental Prefect, and Ambassador to the Batavian Republic. His mother, Victorie, was the daughter of Boulle’s pupil who was connected by the family links of the illustrious Reisener. And his sister married Raymond de Verninac, who became the Prefect of the Rhône and subsequently the Ambassador to the Swiss Republic.
Delacroix from his childhood showed an irresistible early impulse towards art and music which was discovered by posthumous biographers of great masters. At one time, he even thought of adopting a military career. However, when he reached the age of seventeen, he left college to enter Guérin’s studio so that he completely focus on painting. However, in the studio, he soon realized that he could learn more from copying Rubens, Raphael, or Titian at the Louvre than just Guérin’s dry instruction. The artist also gained a deep friendship with his fellow student, Théodore Géricault, who was inspired by a spirit akin to that of Delacroix. He was impressed by the intense realism of his friends’ artworks especially, The Raft of Medusa.
The artist’s mother died in 1819 and whatever small heritage he had was swallowed by a lawsuit. However, Géricault procured him a commission for an altarpiece for the Convent of the Ladies of the Sacred Heart at Nantes. The artwork shows no traces that Delacroix would be such a Romanticist in the future. Then, he painted ‘Vierge des Maisons’ for the church of Orcemont, dating from the same period. Both compositions were based on Raphael’s studies. Finally, in 1822, he composes Dante and Virgil that will dissociate himself from the frigid, lifeless tradition of the David School. The painting was in fact a pictorial protest against the rule of cold classicism.
Now that we know a little about the early life of the artist, let us move to the historical context of Liberty Leading the People painting.
Historical Provenance of the Painting.
It could have been devastating professionally for Delacroix to have been marginalized by the establishment if it had not been for the 1830 July Revolution in Paris, which led to a more liberal regime under King Louis-Philippe d’Orleans, and which inspired one of his most famous paintings, 28th July: Liberty Leading the People. The book, Delacroix and the Rise of Modern Art explains,
“Unlike its archetype, Gericault’s Raft of the Medusa, it accomplished this end through a novel and generally misunderstood melange of allegory and harsh realism. Delacroix did not participate in the street fighting and he was averse to revolutionaries, but he wrote in a letter to his brother that if he had not ‘conquered for the fatherland he would at least paint for it.’”
The painting was the result of the turbulence of what happened in the July Revolution, of 1830. Usually, Delacroix would never use political opinions or influences in his art as for him, it was more like duty and passion. But when he saw the revolutionaries, which he was even able to see from the windows of his home, he couldn’t keep himself from painting The Liberty Leading the People. He completed this entire painting in the same year, 1830.
Now, let me tell you a little about The July Revolution. The Library of Congress puts this revolution in simpler terms. With the Revolution of 1830, another change of regime occurred in France when King Charles X and his repressive July Ordinances revived the opposition of liberals and moderates, resulting in Charles’ abdication. Following this, Louis Philippe was installed the Citizen King or Roi Citoyen. Because this revolution replaced a Bourbon king with an Orleanist king, Louis-Philippe was beloved by republicans and had the support of the Marquis de Lafayette (commander of the National Guard at that time, and a true liberal). A very complicated array of political factions surrounded him, from monarchists to royalists (sometimes called ultras) on the right, to Bonapartists who remained loyal to Napoleon, to republicans and socialists on the left. Despite his attempts, he disappointed everyone by presenting himself as one of the people. The ultra-royalists viewed his approach as a citizen as insulting and a betrayal of the monarchy. To Louis-Philippe, the urban working class’ demands were too radical. He was often called the “King of the Bourgeoisie,” as he never gained the support of the working industrial classes. His reformist attempts to follow the juste milieu (middle ground) ultimately failed. A number of factors beyond his control, such as industrialization and urbanization, triggered economic and social unrest, leading roughly two decades later to another revolution.
Now, coming back to the artwork, Liberty Leading the People was shown in the 1831 Salon which received mixed receptions. The World of Delacroix explains it,
“Critics complained that the picture was a slander of those five glorious days, that Liberty was ignoble, and that the insurgents represented a rude class of people- urchins and workmen. Slander or not, the government brought the painting for 3000 francs; the intention was to hang it in the throne room of the Palais du Luxembourg as a reminder to the new King of how he came to be sitting there. Instead, it was hung for a few months in the palace museum. As times grew more difficult, however, its inflammatory message burned too brightly for official liking, and it was taken down. Delacroix was permitted to send it to his Aunt Felicite for safekeeping.”
However, the artwork was exhibited again after the Revolution of 1848 and during the Exposition of 1855. Today, it hangs in the Louvre in the room with four of the artist’s other artworks.
What we see in this painting is that 1831 brought a dark mood to the artist’s artworks. Since the city was rebellious and Citizen King was treated with hostility and ridicule, he started traveling at this time.
Understanding Liberty Leading the People Meaning.
Liberty Leading the People is a portrayal of freedom amidst political infidelities. There is a clear message about liberty which is only achieved with a courageous path, depicted through the allegorical figure.
Subject Matter of the Artwork.
Starting from the foreground of the artwork is a graveyard. The dead and dying people are sprawled in very pitiful attitudes. In the background, it feels as if there is a smoky battlefield. The insurgents are rushing forward from the street youth in a beret, waving two pistols like a youngster playing cops and robbers, to the respectable student in a top hat on either side. The face of this gentleman appears to be one of Delacroix’s self-portraits, as he is said to have painted it himself. Further, Delacroix painted the artwork’s background with dirt and smoke just like any revolution would look like. Delacroix didn’t fail to add a beautiful touch to the artwork through a glimpse of old Paris through gun smoke, a tiny tricolor flying over the Cathedral of Notre Dame, and a few ancient houses that stand in history. With these somber elements also, he didn’t fail to add a sinister melancholy of revolution.
In the center of the painting, the first figure to discuss is the female or should I call her Liberty. At first, she seems to be overpowered by chaos and forces but at a closer inspection, you will feel that she gives a subtle order to the composition. Wearing a yellow dress falling from her shoulder and naked breasts, she raises a tricolor, which is the French national flag with her right hand and a bayonetted musket in her left. This similar arrangement of the flag is also mimicked by the fallen man who is looking up to her. As she powerfully moves forward, she looks back to provoke the mob to follow her. When you see her head, it looks like she wears a Phrygian cap on her head, which is a classic signifier of freedom. This cap formed an important part of ancient Rome as it indicated a newly liberated status. Though the woman acting as Liberty is portrayed in different artworks of Delacroix’s works, here she is merely an allegorical figure, which says only about freedom in the political vulnerabilities. A wounded man lifts himself up on his arms to gaze at the figure of Liberty as she towers above the mortal strife. One of the significant points to note here is that Delacroix dared to crop the flag’s top, which adds a feeling of spontaneity as if Liberty just strode upwards, further breaking out of the picture’s formal frame.
The concept of Liberty in Delacroix’s painting as half-goddess and half-woman can be derived from many sources. For instance, a popular ode describes Liberty as “this strong woman with powerful breasts, rough voice, and robust charm.” A similar figure is also in an illustration for Byron’s poem Childe Harold. Furthermore, in his memory, a small piece of story which includes a young seamstress who avenged the shooting of her brother at the barricades by killing nine Swiss Guards, might have also affected the figure of Liberty.
But if the female figure represents an allegory, those who surround her represent different types of people. The man on the far left holds a briquet (an infantry saber commonly used during the Napoleonic Wars). His clothing—apron, working shirt, and sailor’s trousers—identify him as a factory worker, a person at the lower end of the economic ladder. His other attire identifies his revolutionary leanings. The handkerchief around his waist, that secures a pistol, has a pattern similar to that of the Cholet handkerchief, a symbol used by François Athannase de Charette de la Contrie, a Royalist soldier who led an ill-fated uprising against the First Republic, the government established as a result of the French Revolution. The white cockade and red ribbon secured to his beret also identify his revolutionary sensibilities.
To the left of the painting, the first figure is the factory worker, which I explained pretty well in the provenance section of the article. Wearing a cream-colored working shirt, apron, and sailor’s trousers, he has a handkerchief around his waist. He has a pistol around his waist and a sword in his hand. His expressions are furious. In contrast, another worker wears a black hat, a collared white shirt and cravat, and an elegantly tailored black coat. He holds a hunting shotgun. There is a clear contrast between them economically but the revolution neglected the social order. To the right, an adolescent boy is wearing a white shirt with a cap and trousers holding two pistols in each hand.
Formal Analysis of Liberty Leading the People.
1. Line.
The painting consists of different lines to form a sensibility and motion. Almost all of the weapons are in diagonal postures, which here explains the instability in the scene, whilst giving a motion to the artwork. At the same time, in the foreground of the artwork, the buildings just like the contours are formed white using horizontal and vertical lines, which communicates stability, the stability of old Paris. Further, the allegorical stance, her foot stepping forward, her body posture, along the bodies lying below, all are in diagonal posture. I have added an image for your reference here. However, the body curves of the Liberty are soft, hence representing energy amidst the revolution.
2. Shape.
The painting consists of a triangular shape from the flag hoisted by the allegorical figure. It is composed of many triangles if the figures are inspected closely. Further, the only rectangles here are the buildings in the foreground.
3. Color and Space.
The painting consists of a darker combination of colors with contrasting hues like red and blue of the flag. Delacroix used earthy color combinations like beige, brown, or warm whites to majorly show the clothing of the figures. Even the central figure, Liberty wears a warm yellow colored dress, ruffled with the draperies. The artist used warm colors for skin shade but to contrast those aspects of the painting, he further adds sharking red or blue through flag or costume.
The painting has a picture plane where the rest of the figures and buildings reside but the allegorical figure seems to move forward in a new picture plane. From this act to the viewer, Liberty seems to reach out of the painting through her arm and flag. There is a perfect illusion of three-dimensional space in this artwork through the addition of a picture plane by the Allegorical figure.
Final Words.
Eugène Delacroix added a moving drama through a profusion of diagonal lines, soft contours, the addition of picture planes through an Allegorical figure, and the choice of wise colors in the Liberty Leading the People. For once the artist devoted themselves to the reality of contemporary life through this artwork. What fascinated me most is that in this monumentally grand composition, the tophat and frock-coat of the Liberty, previously thought unsuitable to a grand pictorial conception, enter with triumphant defiance; and they add nothing to its epic grandeur. The painting shows a completely different side of the artist, which is why it is a must-see for everyone.
Resources.
- The Liberty Cap as a Revolutionary Symbol in America and France.
- Les Salles Rouges (The Red Rooms), Louvre.
- Library of Congress Research Guides.
- The Paintings of Eugène Delacroix: A Critical Catalogue, 1816-1831 by Lee Johnson.
- Delacroix by Sébastien Allard, Côme Fabre, Mehdi Korchane.
- The World of Delacroix, 1798-1863 by Tom Prideaux.
- Delacroix (Painters) by Paul G. Konody.
- Delacroix and the Rise of Modern Art by Patrick Noon; Christopher Riopelle.
- Featured Image: Liberty Leading the People by Eugène Delacroix; Eugène Delacroix, Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons.
Frequently Asked Questions.
Liberty Leading the People simply portrays freedom amid political infidelities. It narrates the story of the July Revolution of 1830 where Liberty, the centered woman acting as an allegory, depicts a courageous path to follow for freedom.
The artwork, Liberty Leading the People represents emotions like disorder and tumult amidst idealizing woman here, asserting an originality from the artist- a common notion of Romanticism. Further, it shows an uncontrolled force and unpredictability but still emphasizes an alternative to the ordered world of Enlightenment thought, which further makes it a classic example of Romanticism.
The main character in Liberty Leading the People is the lady at the center of the painting, wearing a loose yellow dress with her bare breasts visible, and holding a French flag in one hand and a weapon in the other. The woman takes a step while keeping an eye on the people behind her as if she were seeing who’s following her.
The French Romanticist, Eugène Delacroix painted Liberty Leading the People. The artwork was his first contemporary realist artwork, which displays the socio-political impact of the July Revolution, making it one of the most celebrated and controversial artworks of all time.
Liberty Leading the People was based on the events that occurred in the July Revolution of 1830 and hence the artist painted it during the same year. He started composing it in the autumn and completed it in the same year.
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