Eugene Delacroix

Eugene Delacroix (1798-1863) "the greatest of the French Romantic painters", attended art school in Paris, where a friend and classmate was Gericault. In 1821 the first picture he exhibited at the Salon, Dante and Virgil, was purchased by the French government. After visiting England and seeing the works of Hogarth, among others, he returned to Paris, his subject matter moving to literary and exotic paintings influenced by classic works of the Renaissance. Delacroix' works use a palette of brilliant colours to convey drama and excitement.