sweeps upward from the dead bodies that anchor it, the father and son at left
and the dragging body at right, to the muscular black man supported aloft by
his comrade who waves a white cloth to attract the attention of a distant ship.
An upsurge of communal hope barely balances the sense of doom conveyed
by the dark billow of the sail and the great wave beyond it.
This powerful diagonal composition was borrowed from Baroque art, to
which Romantic painters often turned when mounting dramatic narratives.
This Neo-Baroque style is perhaps the proper antithesis of Neoclassicism.
The painting was not a particular success in the Salon of 1819; it was too
new in style and content. In due
time, the allegorical power of the
great painting was recognized, but
Géricault’s physical and mental
health had been ruined by the
ordeal of its creation, and he died
¿ ve years later.
We now turn our attention to
Eugène Delacroix (1798–1863), the
greatest French Romantic painter
and one of the greatest artists of
the 19th century. Géricault died in
January 1824, when Delacroix was beginning his ¿ rst monumental painting,
Massacre at Chios (1824). The painting shows a scene from the Greek war
for independence from the Turks. The Ottoman À eet had attacked the rich
and peaceful island of Chios. Ten thousand troops set upon the population
of 100,000, and at the end of a month, the European press reported that
20,000 had been slaughtered and most of the rest carried into slavery. Only
900 remained on the island. As Goya had done, so did Delacroix. The fury
of these artists was stirred by the killing of civilian populations, modern
renditions of the biblical massacre of the innocents. Delacroix honored the
survivors with a striking, anti-heroic composition.
The individual Greek captives are painted with dignity, sadness, and in¿ nite
tenderness. Note the children gathered near their stoic father at the left, the
couple who lean weakly on each other, the old woman who looks doubtfully
The trip [to France] stimulated
Delacroix for the rest of his
life, and it modulated his art,
individuating and intensifying
his colors, accentuating his
love of horses, and deepening
and warming his sensuality.