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Lot Essay
CHEVALIER EN ARMURE IS A FINE EXAMPLE OF DELACROIX'S GéNIE ROMANTIQUE. IN THE 1820S DELACROIX GAINED A REPUTATION AS AN EXCEPTIONAL NEW TALENT. HIS EXTRAORDINARY 'BOLDNESS OF HANDLING, ... CHOICE OF MICHELANGELESQUE POSES, MUSCULAR EXAGGERATIONS, AND TERRIBILITà' (L. JOHNSON, EUGèNE DELACROIX, NEW YORK, 1991, P. 13) FOUND THEIR FIRST, MOST STRIKING EXPRESSION IN THE PIVOTAL LA BARQUE DE DANTE (PARIS, MUSéE DU LOUVRE), EXHIBITED AT THE SALON OF 1822, AND LE MASSACRE DE CHIOS (PARIS, MUSéE DU LOUVRE, FIG. 1) OF 1824. IT WAS AFTER THE APPEARANCE OF LE MASSACRE DE CHIOS AT THE SALON THAT THE CRITICS FIRST APPLIED THE TERM ROMANTIQUE TO DELACROIX'S WORK, TO DISTINGUISH IT FROM NEOCLASSICISM. 'THE CHARACTERISTICS OF HIS STYLE, WHICH WERE THEN, AS LATER, WIDELY JUDGED TO PART FROM THE FRENCH CLASSICAL IDEAL, TO OFFEND FRENCH TASTE WHICH... WAS "NOBLE AND PURE", WERE LACK OF UNITY; BOLD HANDLING AT THE EXPENSE OF "CORRECT" DRAWING AND HIGH FINISH; THE SACRIFICE OF "IDEAL" BEAUTY AND RESTRAINT FOR THE SAKE OF EXPRESSIVENESS... ; AND COLOR THAT WAS EITHER TOO BRILLIANT OR MORBIDLY REALISTIC' (IBID, P. 15) - ALL CHARACTERISTIC ELEMENTS OF CHEVALIER EN ARMURE.
THE FIGURE OF THE NOBLE HORSEMAN IS ONE OF THE ICONS OF ROMANTICISM AND IS CENTRAL TO THE OEUVRE OF BOTH GéRICAULT (FIG. 3) AND DELACROIX. ICONOGRAPHICALLY THE CAVALIER EPITOMISED THE PAINTERS' CONFLICTING ATTRACTION TO CLASSICAL AND ROMANTIC THEMES, WHILE CONVEYING THEIR FASCINATION FOR CHIVALROUS SUBJECTS INSTILLED IN THEM BY THE EPIC DAYS OF THE EMPIRE. STYLISTICALLY IT WAS CERTAINLY THE BEST WAY OF LETTING THEIR IMPETUOUS, FEBRILE DUCTUS SHINE. THE CAVALIER, CELEBRATED BY THE GREEK AND ROMAN STATUARY AND THEREAFTER BY THE RENAISSANCE MASTERS SUCH AS ANDREA DEL VERROCCHIO AND PAOLO UCCELLO, BECAME THE IDEAL FIGURE OF THE ROMANTIC ARTISTIC VISION, WHILST THE NOBLE HORSE WAS TO BE THE PREFERRED ANIMAL IN 19TH CENTURY PAINTING. THE CHARGER'S NERVOUS ENERGY AND EXCEPTIONAL FREEDOM OF MOVEMENT PROFOUNDLY INSPIRED THE ARTISTS OF THE BEGINNING OF THE CENTURY - THE PERIOD THAT SAW THE RELEASE OF THE ARDOURS OF ROMANTICISM AND THE BEGINNINGS OF MODERN SPEED. DELACROIX WAS INTENSELY FASCINATED BY THE DEPICTION OF THE MULTIFARIOUS ATTITUDES AND MOVEMENTS OF THE HORSE, AND EXPLORED HIS FAVOURED THEME THROUGHOUT HIS CAREER - IN HIS MYTHOLOGICAL, HISTORICAL AND ORIENTALIST PAINTINGS. IN SUCH DIVERSE PICTORIAL CONTEXTS, DELACROIX'S LEITMOTIV WAS THE HORSE CONCEIVED AS A SYMBOL OF VITAL STRENGTH, CAPTURED IN ITS QUIVERING RESPONSES TO ITS MASTER - THE TURK AND ARAB OF HIS ORIENTALIST OILS, OR THE MAN IN ARMOUR OF HIS HISTORICAL PAINTINGS. THE SUBJECT OF THE CHIVALROUS KNIGHT HAD FASCINATED HIM FROM BOYHOOD AS SUGGESTED IN SEVERAL VERY BEAUTIFUL PENCIL SKETCHES DELACROIX EXECUTED AS A YOUNG ARTIST (FIG. 2).
CHEVALIER EN ARMURE WAS PART OF THE PRESTIGIOUS COLLECTION OF LOUIS SARLIN, ONE OF THE GREATEST CONNOISSEURS OF DELACROIX'S WORK. AMONG THE ARTIST'S MASTERPIECES OWNED BY SARLIN WERE A TURK SURRENDERS TO A GREEK HORSEMAN (GENERALLY KNOWN AS THE COMBAT OF THE GIAOUR AND THE PASHA, 1856), NOW IN THE COLLECTION OF THE FOGG ART MUSEUM (CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSSETS), AND ERMINIA AND THE SHEPHERDS (1859), BOUGHT BY SARLIN FROM BERNHEIM-JEUNE IN 1907 AND NOW IN THE NATIONALMUSEUM, STOCKHOLM. SARLIN'S COLLECTION WAS PRESENTED AT AUCTION AT HôTEL DROUOT ON 2 MARCH 1918; HOWEVER, THE PUBLIC AUCTION WAS NOT HELD BECAUSE THE COLLECTION WAS SOLD EN BLOC BEFORE THE SALE TO A DANISH COLLECTOR WHO WAS THE GRANDFATHER OF THE PRESENT OWNER.
THE FIGURE OF THE NOBLE HORSEMAN IS ONE OF THE ICONS OF ROMANTICISM AND IS CENTRAL TO THE OEUVRE OF BOTH GéRICAULT (FIG. 3) AND DELACROIX. ICONOGRAPHICALLY THE CAVALIER EPITOMISED THE PAINTERS' CONFLICTING ATTRACTION TO CLASSICAL AND ROMANTIC THEMES, WHILE CONVEYING THEIR FASCINATION FOR CHIVALROUS SUBJECTS INSTILLED IN THEM BY THE EPIC DAYS OF THE EMPIRE. STYLISTICALLY IT WAS CERTAINLY THE BEST WAY OF LETTING THEIR IMPETUOUS, FEBRILE DUCTUS SHINE. THE CAVALIER, CELEBRATED BY THE GREEK AND ROMAN STATUARY AND THEREAFTER BY THE RENAISSANCE MASTERS SUCH AS ANDREA DEL VERROCCHIO AND PAOLO UCCELLO, BECAME THE IDEAL FIGURE OF THE ROMANTIC ARTISTIC VISION, WHILST THE NOBLE HORSE WAS TO BE THE PREFERRED ANIMAL IN 19TH CENTURY PAINTING. THE CHARGER'S NERVOUS ENERGY AND EXCEPTIONAL FREEDOM OF MOVEMENT PROFOUNDLY INSPIRED THE ARTISTS OF THE BEGINNING OF THE CENTURY - THE PERIOD THAT SAW THE RELEASE OF THE ARDOURS OF ROMANTICISM AND THE BEGINNINGS OF MODERN SPEED. DELACROIX WAS INTENSELY FASCINATED BY THE DEPICTION OF THE MULTIFARIOUS ATTITUDES AND MOVEMENTS OF THE HORSE, AND EXPLORED HIS FAVOURED THEME THROUGHOUT HIS CAREER - IN HIS MYTHOLOGICAL, HISTORICAL AND ORIENTALIST PAINTINGS. IN SUCH DIVERSE PICTORIAL CONTEXTS, DELACROIX'S LEITMOTIV WAS THE HORSE CONCEIVED AS A SYMBOL OF VITAL STRENGTH, CAPTURED IN ITS QUIVERING RESPONSES TO ITS MASTER - THE TURK AND ARAB OF HIS ORIENTALIST OILS, OR THE MAN IN ARMOUR OF HIS HISTORICAL PAINTINGS. THE SUBJECT OF THE CHIVALROUS KNIGHT HAD FASCINATED HIM FROM BOYHOOD AS SUGGESTED IN SEVERAL VERY BEAUTIFUL PENCIL SKETCHES DELACROIX EXECUTED AS A YOUNG ARTIST (FIG. 2).
CHEVALIER EN ARMURE WAS PART OF THE PRESTIGIOUS COLLECTION OF LOUIS SARLIN, ONE OF THE GREATEST CONNOISSEURS OF DELACROIX'S WORK. AMONG THE ARTIST'S MASTERPIECES OWNED BY SARLIN WERE A TURK SURRENDERS TO A GREEK HORSEMAN (GENERALLY KNOWN AS THE COMBAT OF THE GIAOUR AND THE PASHA, 1856), NOW IN THE COLLECTION OF THE FOGG ART MUSEUM (CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSSETS), AND ERMINIA AND THE SHEPHERDS (1859), BOUGHT BY SARLIN FROM BERNHEIM-JEUNE IN 1907 AND NOW IN THE NATIONALMUSEUM, STOCKHOLM. SARLIN'S COLLECTION WAS PRESENTED AT AUCTION AT HôTEL DROUOT ON 2 MARCH 1918; HOWEVER, THE PUBLIC AUCTION WAS NOT HELD BECAUSE THE COLLECTION WAS SOLD EN BLOC BEFORE THE SALE TO A DANISH COLLECTOR WHO WAS THE GRANDFATHER OF THE PRESENT OWNER.