Eugène Delacroix, French, 1798-1863
Title: Demosthenes on the Seashore
Date: 1859
Medium: Oil on paper, laid on wood panel
Dimensions:
49 x 60 cm
Signed: lower left: Eug. Delacroix 1859
Credit Line: Purchased, 1934
Object Number: NGI.964
DescriptionEugène Delacroix was the leading artist of the Romantic movement in France. Renowned for painting historical subjects on a grand scale, his compositions are highly charged, full of colour, dramatic movement and emotion.
Demosthenes was a statesman and orator who lived in Athens during the fourth century BC. To overcome a speech impediment he is said to have practised speaking with pebbles in his mouth. He also gave speeches on the seashore, projecting his voice over the sound of the waves in preparation for tumultuous crowds. Delacroix depicts him barefoot on a beach with one arm outstretched towards the water. Two figures clamber on the rocks behind and appear to gesture in alarm at the spectacle. When this picture was first exhibited in Paris in 1860 it was admired primarily as a marine painting. Demosthenes’s calm upright stance contrasts with the movement of his billowing cloak, the frothing waves and stormy sky, all of which are rendered with lively brushstrokes. In the latter part of his career Delacroix became deeply involved in mural painting. In 1844-45 he had painted the subject of Demosthenes as part of a decorative cycle for the library ceiling at the Palais Bourbon, Paris.
March 2016
Demosthenes was a statesman and orator who lived in Athens during the fourth century BC. To overcome a speech impediment he is said to have practised speaking with pebbles in his mouth. He also gave speeches on the seashore, projecting his voice over the sound of the waves in preparation for tumultuous crowds. Delacroix depicts him barefoot on a beach with one arm outstretched towards the water. Two figures clamber on the rocks behind and appear to gesture in alarm at the spectacle. When this picture was first exhibited in Paris in 1860 it was admired primarily as a marine painting. Demosthenes’s calm upright stance contrasts with the movement of his billowing cloak, the frothing waves and stormy sky, all of which are rendered with lively brushstrokes. In the latter part of his career Delacroix became deeply involved in mural painting. In 1844-45 he had painted the subject of Demosthenes as part of a decorative cycle for the library ceiling at the Palais Bourbon, Paris.
March 2016
ProvenanceFrancis Petit by 1860; le chevalier A. de Knieff; Charlin; Hotel Drouot, Paris, 29 April 1872, Charlin sale, lot 7; Bryce; Hotel Drouot, Paris, 16 March 1877, Bryce sale, lot 13; Henry Rigaud; Hotel Drouot, Paris, 3 April 1933, sale estate Rigaud, lot 4; Georges Bernheim et Cie., Paris; purchased, Georges Bernheim et Cie, Paris, 1934
Exhibition HistoryGalerie Francis Petit, Paris, 1860
Monument Delacroix, Ecole des Beaux-Arts, Paris, 1885
Centenary Exhibition, National Gallery of Ireland, Dublin, October - December 1964
Masterpieces of the National Gallery of Ireland, National Gallery, London, 1985
From Titian to Delacroix: Masterpieces from the National Gallery of Ireland, Yokohama Sogo Museum of Art, Yokohama, 25 August - 17 October 1993; Chiba Sogo Museum of Art, Chiba, 10 November - 20 December 1993; Prefectural Museum of Art, Yamaguchi, 5 January - 20 February 1994; Kobe City Museum, Kobe, 25 February - 10 April 1994; Isetan Museum of Art, Tokyo, 14 April - 24 May 1994
European Masterpieces from the National Gallery of Ireland, National Gallery, Canberra, 25 June - 3 October 1994; Art Gallery of New South Wales, Adelaide, 21 October 1994 - 15 January 1995
Les dernieres annees d'Eugene Delacroix, Galeries Nationales du Grand Palais, Paris, 7 April - 20 July 1998; Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, 10 September 1998 - 3 January 1999
Delacroix: Painting, Colour and Music, Ordrupgaard, Charlottenlund, 15 September - 30 December 2000
Von Poussin bis Monet. Die Farben Frankreichs, Bucerius Kunst Forum, Hamburg, 10 October 2015 - 17 January 2016
Monument Delacroix, Ecole des Beaux-Arts, Paris, 1885
Centenary Exhibition, National Gallery of Ireland, Dublin, October - December 1964
Masterpieces of the National Gallery of Ireland, National Gallery, London, 1985
From Titian to Delacroix: Masterpieces from the National Gallery of Ireland, Yokohama Sogo Museum of Art, Yokohama, 25 August - 17 October 1993; Chiba Sogo Museum of Art, Chiba, 10 November - 20 December 1993; Prefectural Museum of Art, Yamaguchi, 5 January - 20 February 1994; Kobe City Museum, Kobe, 25 February - 10 April 1994; Isetan Museum of Art, Tokyo, 14 April - 24 May 1994
European Masterpieces from the National Gallery of Ireland, National Gallery, Canberra, 25 June - 3 October 1994; Art Gallery of New South Wales, Adelaide, 21 October 1994 - 15 January 1995
Les dernieres annees d'Eugene Delacroix, Galeries Nationales du Grand Palais, Paris, 7 April - 20 July 1998; Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, 10 September 1998 - 3 January 1999
Delacroix: Painting, Colour and Music, Ordrupgaard, Charlottenlund, 15 September - 30 December 2000
Von Poussin bis Monet. Die Farben Frankreichs, Bucerius Kunst Forum, Hamburg, 10 October 2015 - 17 January 2016
Label TextDelacroix’s Romantic style contrasted with the restrained Neoclassicism endorsed by the official Académie. He used vibrant colours and lively brushwork to convey movement, drama, and heightened emotion. This scene depicts the Ancient Greek statesman, Demosthenes. To overcome a speech impediment, he was reputed to have practised his discourses on the seashore, projecting his voice over the sound of the waves. The idea of man’s place in nature was a prevalent conceit in Romantic art and literature during the nineteenth century.