presents Homer as a virtual deity, enthroned before a Greek temple, while
being crowned with a wreath by an angel who may represent Victory. Homer
is seen as the progenitor of all the arts, and he is À anked by great creators
from antiquity through the 18th century, including Apelles, in a blue robe,
holding Raphael’s hand; Mozart and Aristotle; Shakespeare and Tasso; and
Racine and Poussin, who points to Homer, reminding us of the primacy of
the ancients. Apart from the amusement of identifying the ¿ gures, there is not
much here today to hold our interest, nor does it seem a likely candidate for
future admiration. It was worked out with stupefying attention to placement
and detail, but it is devoid of life.
The year 1830 saw the ¿ rst of the mini-revolutions that marked
19 th-century French political life. The “three glorious days” of the July
Revolution overthrew the Bourbon restoration monarchy and, with the
help of the Marquis de Lafayette, put Louis-Philippe on the throne as the
“Citizen King.”
Liberty Leading the People (1830), by Delacroix, may be the last truly
credible allegorical painting in European art. The genre had become arti¿ cial,
and the way of thinking that produced it was no longer widely shared. This
painting is believable because Delacroix believed in it and put all his genius
into it. Liberty carries the French tricolor in her right hand and a musket
in her left. To her left are a man with a saber and a man wearing a top hat
and carrying a musket. At her feet is a ¿ gure looking up at Liberty with
admiration, connecting the allegory with reality. To her right is a boy with
two pistols, charging with Liberty. At the bottom of the painting are two dead
bodies that serve as a barricade, blocking the forward motion of the picture.
France conquered Morocco in 1830, but the sultan was an unpredictable
neighbor, inclined to interfere in French decisions. In 1832, an of¿ cial
diplomatic mission was sent to Morocco, and Delacroix was invited as a
guest of one of the delegates. After this trip, he painted Women of Algiers
(1834). Delacroix ¿ lled notebook after notebook with drawings and
watercolors, recording the exotic locale, people, costumes, events, and the
Jewish populace of Algiers. The trip 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.