Eugène Delacroix

Estate of the artist (sale: Hôtel Drouot, Paris, 22-27 February 1864, probably lot 414, Cavalier arabe galopant)
Probably, M. le Comte Valsh (purchased at the above sale)
Private Collection, France
Purchased by the late owner in Paris in December 2001

Vienna, Albertina, Goya bis Picasso. Meisterwerke der Sammlung Jan Krugier und Marie-Anne Krugier-Poniatowski, 2005, no. 26, illustrated in colour in the catalogue
Munich, Kunsthalle der Hypo-Kulturstiftung, Das Ewige Auge - Von Rembrandt bis Picasso. Meisterwerke der Sammlung Jan Krugier und Marie-Anne Krugier-Poniatowski, 2007, no. 96, illustrated in colour in the catalogue

Probably, Adolphe Moreau, E. Delacroix et son œuvre, Paris, 1873, p. 325
Probably, Alfred Robaut, L'Œuvre complet de Eugène Delacroix, Paris, 1885, p. 466, no. 1892, catalogued (as Cavalier arabe galopant)

The sheet has yellowed overall with age and is quite fragile. There is an old mark related to a former mat around the extreme edges, notably the right edge, and the sheet is undulating somewhat along the left and right edges. There are a number of repairs to the sheet in places at the extreme edges, notably in the extreme lower right corner and near the centre of the left and the right extreme edges. The colours are fresh and vibrant. Presented framed and under glass, the extreme edges of the sheet covered by the mat.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

The cantering impetuosity of the galloping horse and rider in the present watercolour perfectly captures the drama that unfurls in Delacroix's dynamic North African subjects. Related to the larger oil painting of the same composition and date, now in the collection of the J. Paul Getty Museum (fig. 1), the exotic subject blends the artist's first-hand experience of Morocco with the artist's own romantic vision.

Delacroix used the subject of horse and rider to engender power and dominance in his compositions, whether in his history or religious paintings, scenes from mythology and literature, or in his interpretation of contemporary events, such as his early masterpiece Scenes from the Massacre of Chios, in which the rearing horse and proud Turkish rider embue the composition with both height and an exotic drama (fig. 2). It was as a result of Delacroix's trip to North Africa in 1832, however, that his images of horses and riders became noticeably less tame, and much more visceral in expression. His witness of North African horsemanship during his visit that year resulted in such dramatic canvases as Arab Cavalry Practising a Cavalry Charge (fig. 3).   

Already an established artist, with Salon successes to show for it, at the age of thirty Delacroix had been invited to join a diplomatic delegation to Morocco led by Charles de Mornay, who had been summoned by the king, Louis-Philippe, to appear before the Sultan of Morocco, Moulay Abd er-Rahman. The journey, taking him to Tangiers, Meknes, Oran and Algiers, lasted six months, from January to July 1832. Delacroix, who was not directly involved in the negotiations, took full advantage of his freedom, hungrily recording his impressions in drawings and sketches, often with painstaking precision, for fear of not remembering every detail after returning home. 

The North African journey proved a thrilling experience for Delacroix and heralded a whole new departure in his work. First and foremost Morocco would provide an endless array of subjects that would come to dominate his œuvre for the rest of his career. 'The picturesque is here in abundance. At every step one sees ready-made pictures, which would bring fame and fortune to twenty generations of painters,' he wrote in a letter to Armand Bertin from Meknes on 2nd April 1832 (Jean Stewart, (ed. & trans.), Eugène Delacroix. Selected Letters 1813-1863, New York, 1971, p. 192, translated from A. Joubin, (ed.), Correspondence générale d'Eugène Delacroix, Paris, 1935-38). Between 1834 and 1859 he showed some 14 North African subjects at the Paris Salon, beginning with Les Femmes d'Alger in 1834.

Another lesson drawn from Delacroix's experiences in North Africa and which fed his romantic imagination was his discovery of the unique light and colours of the south. 'Come to Barbary,' he wrote to Villot on 29th February, 'you will experience the exquisite and extraordinary influence of the sun, which gives penetrating life to everything' (ibid., p. 186).  And Delacroix’s emphatic use of the rich local red and fresh strong greens to enliven the picture surface in Cavalier Arabe galopant is itself symbolic of the fundamental 'otherness' of the scene and the setting.

It is paradoxical, therefore, given Delacroix's close affinity with the Orient, that as his career progressed, he placed less and less importance on factual accuracy, and ever greater emphasis on his idea that 'Le Beau est le Vrai idéalisé'. The present watercolour, and related oil in the Getty Museum painted some twenty years after his return from Morocco, may evoke the atmosphere of the place, but much of the painstaking detail he recorded in his drawings is now absent. More important for Delacroix was the creation of an aesthetic vision. Increasingly, he eschewed in the work of later Orientalist painters the very verisimilitude to which he himself had attached so much importance during his journey. 

By the time he painted the present work, Delacroix let his imagination take the lead, even declaring in his Journal of 17th October 1853: 'I began to make something tolerable of my African journey only when I had forgotten the trivial details and remembered nothing but the striking and poetic side of the subject. Up to that time, I had been haunted by this passion for accuracy that most people mistake for truth,' (Hubert Wellington, (ed.), Lucy Norton, (trans.), The Journal of Eugène Delacroix: A Selection, London, 1951, p. 198).