Delacroix, EUGÈNE, a French painter, chief of the Romantic school, was born at Charenton-Saint-Maurice, near Paris, 26th April 1799. At the age of eighteen he entered the atelier of Pierre Guérin, a follower of David, and came under the far more powerful influence of his fellow-pupil, Géricault. In 1822 he exhibited his first work, 'Dante and Virgil,' the novel force of which attracted much attention and won the praise of M. Thiers among others. In 1824, Delacroix, who was now at the head of the new school of young painters, produced the 'Massacre of Scio,' which was entirely repainted after the artist had studied a work of Constable's. The July revolution left its impress on Delacroix, and in 1831 appeared his
'Liberty directing the People on the Barricades.' In 1832 he made a voyage to Morocco, where he familiarised himself with novel effects of light and costumes. From this period, Delacroix continued to send forth picture after picture, besides decorating many public buildings and churches. He also executed a number of lithographs, including a series illustrating Hamlet, and one dealing with Faust, of which Goethe wrote that he found 'in these images all the impressions of his youth.' In 1857 he was chosen by the Institute to fill the place of Delaroche. He died August 13, 1863. The most striking quality of Delacroix's art is its invention, its impetuous imaginative force and vitality. He aimed at a powerful and dramatic expression of passion and emotion, and in the pursuit of this aim a sense of beauty was frequently lost. He was an admirable colourist, and his admirers have ranked him with Veronese and Rubens. His drawing, sometimes incorrect, is always spirited and full of vigour. See Lives by Moreau (1873), Burty (1880), and Chesneau (1885); and his Journal (1898).