Ferdinand-Victor-Eugène Delacroix (Charenton-Saint-Maurice 1798-1863 Paris)

This drawing is similar in style, medium and size to sketches from Delacroix's Moroccan Album in the Louvre, Paris (J. Giuffrey and P. Marcel, Inventaire Général des Dessins du Musée du Louvre et du Musée de Versailles, IV-V, Paris, 1949, nos. 3471-3530). That album was bequeathed to the Louvre by Philippe Burty, who purchased it at Delacroix's studio sale in 1864 for 475 francs. Of the seven albums mentioned in the sale, two more are in the Louvre and one is in the Musée Condé, Chantilly, while three are unaccounted for. It is possible that this study was originally a sheet from one of these missing albums.
In 1832 Delacroix travelled to Morocco in the entourage of the Count de Mornay. Despite North Africa having already influenced his work, his visit to Morocco was to give him firsthand experience of such a place and inspired some of his most celebrated paintings. His use of colour and style captured every minute detail of his surroundings in an almost photographic quality, and his sketches serve as a valuable ethnological record of North Africa in the mid 1800's.