Liberty Leading the People

Written By Jonah Freud

Eugène Delacroix

EUGÈNE DELACROIX, 1830. OIL ON CANVAS

“If I haven't fought for my country, at least I'll paint for her.” And France should be grateful, for Eugène Delacroix’s magnum opus became one of the land’s greatest historical images. The anthropomorphised figure of Liberty strides forward, both rugged everywoman and godlike allegory. She leads a radically varied depiction of the July Revolution’s crowd; bicorned students, top-hatted bourgeoisie and pistol-toting revolutionary workers. Delacroix completed the painting before the year of revolution had ended. The father of French Romanticism rejected the emphasis on precision of the academic art of his time, instead concentrating upon colour brushed with abandon. The Phrygian-capped figure of Liberty was based upon a Dutch portrait of the pirate Anne Bonny; an apt manifestation of King Charles X’s bloody downfall.

 
Jonah Freud
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Paysage Aux Végétations
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The Disintegration of The Persistence of Memory