Completely opposed to
the stress on drawing
advocated by Ingres, two
artists created, through
their emphasis on colour,
form and composition,
pictures that look
forward to the later
part of the nineteenth
century and the
Impressionists.
Théodore
Géricault (1791-
1824), whose short life
was still dominated by
the heroic vision of the
Napoleonic era, explored
dramatic themes of human
suffering in such
paintings as
The Raft
of the Medusa, while
his close contemporary,
Eugène
Delacroix
(1798-1863), epitomized
the
Romantic movement
- its search for
emotions and its love of
nature, power and
change.
Delacroix was deeply
aware of tradition, and
his art was influenced,
visually and
conceptually, by the
great masters of the
Renaissance and the
seventeenth and
eighteenth centuries. In
many ways he may be
regarded as the last
great religious and
decorative French
painter, but through his
technical virtuosity,
freedom of brushwork and
richness of colours, he
can also be seen as the
essential forerunner of
the Impressionists. For
Delacroix there was no
conflict between colour
and design: David and
Ingres saw these
elements as separate
aspects of creation, but
Delacroix used colours
as the basis and
structure of his
designs. His technical
freedom was partly due
to his admiration for
two English painters,
John Constable and his
close friend, Richard
Parkes Bonington, with
whom he shared a studio
for a few months.
Bonington especially had
a freshness of approach
to colour and a free
handling of paint, both
of which had a strong
impact on Delacroix. His
numerous themes ranged
from intimate female
nudes, often with
mysterious and erotic
Middle Eastern
overtones, to studies of
animals and hunting
scenes. Ancient and
contemporary history
supplied him with some
of his most harrowing
and dramatic paintings: The
Massacre at Chios
was based on an event
that took place during
the Greek War of
Independence against the
Turks, and Liberty
Guiding the People
was painted to
commemorate the
Revolution of 1830. Both
paintings were his
personal response to
contemporary events and
the human tragedies they
entailed.
Other painters
working in the Romantic
tradition were still
haunted by the
Napoleonic legends, as
well as by North Africa
(Algeria) and the Middle
East, which had become
better known to artists
and patrons alike during
the Napoleonic wars.
These were the subjects
of paintings by Horace
Vernet (1789-1863), Jean-Louis-Ernest
Meissonier (1815-91)
and Théodore Chassériau
(1819-56).
Among their
contemporaries was Honoré
Daumier (1808-79):
very much an isolated
figure, influenced by
the boldness of approach
of caricaturists, he was
content to depict
everyday subjects such
as a laundress or a
third-class rail car -
caustic commentaries on
professions and politics
that work as brilliant
observations of the
times.
