The Romantic Movement In France

(via The Outline of Art) William Orpen writes:

These methods of painting—though afterwards employed by the Pre-Raphaelites—were then a complete innovation in painting, and the painting was so novel in conception, so contrary to the received ideas of the time, that when it was at length completed and shown in the Salon of 1819 it was at first greeted with nothing but abuse. Nevertheless, this picture marks a turning-point in the history of French painting; it brought strong feeling and pulsating life into the barren and frozen official art, and gave new ideals to the younger generation.

At the time the genius of Géricault was more highly appreciated in England than in France, and after the exhibition of his masterpiece the artist visited London, where his drawings and paintings of horses were intensely admired, and Géricault did signal service to the art of both countries by returning to Paris full of praise for the painting of Bonington and Constable, whose pictures he introduced to and made known in Paris. Unfortunately for the world this great genius was short-lived. Early in 1823 he was stricken down by a mortal illness, and after eleven months of terrible suffering, borne with fortitude and composure, he died in January 1824 at the early age of thirty-three. His place at the head of the Romantic School was taken by Delacroix, who had been his friend and fellow student in the studio of Guérin.

Ferdinand Victor Eugène Delacroix was born at Charenton in 1798, but spent his early years at Marseilles, where he gained that love of vivid color and bright sunshine which afterwards distinguished his paiting. His father, an ex-foreign minister under the Directory and subsequently prefect of Marseilles and Bordeaux, did not take kindly to the idea of his son becoming a painter, but he died before his son came of age, and Eugène Delacroix then found shelter with a married sister in Paris, where he overcame family opposition and was allowed to study art.

His father, however, had left him penniless, and the young artist was so poor that in 1822, after painting his first great picture ‘The Barque of Dante,’ he could not afford to buy a frame, but sent the canvas to the Salon surrounded by four laths which he had colored with yellow powder. There it was seen by Baron Gros, who generously recognized the great talent of the poor artist, and not only persuaded the administration to give the picture a handsome new frame, but hung it in a place of honor in the Salon Carré.

‘The Barque of Dante’ made the painter famous at once, and did not offend the Classicists. Gross said the picture was ‘Rubens reformed,’ and paternally advised the artist. ‘Come to us; we will teach you how to draw.’ Delacroix was grateful to Gros for his kindness, but went his own way, and two years later he shocked the Classicists and delighted te Romantics by his picture ‘The Massacre of Scio.’

It will be remembered that Constable’s ‘Hay Wain’ was exhibited in the Paris Salon of 1824, and when Delacroix saw it he was so overwhelmed by its color that he obtained permission to retouch his own ‘Massacre of Scio’. In a fortnight he completely repainted this picture, using the purest and most vivid colors he could find, with the result that it now became as brilliant in color as it had already been in action and movement. The turbulent energy in this painting was too much for the Classicists, and Gros, playing on the title, said, ‘This is the massacre of painting.’ On the other hand, enthusiastic young critics lauded the picture with extravagant praise, one of them asserting that it showed up ‘all the horror of despotism’ in art as in life.

The Romantic Movement In France (continued)