Study of a Greek warrior

The drawing represents a Greek soldier dressed in traditional costume with sword, bonnet, and elaborate gaiters. Delacroix has captured in minute detail the texture of the rich fabric of the soldier's garments. While Delacroix’s fascination with Morocco is well known, less studied is the artist’s interest in Greece, a country he never visited. On June 30, 1824, Delacroix wrote in his journal: ‘At M. Auguste’s I saw some admirable paintings after the masters; costumes, and especially horses, admirable beyond anything Géricault ever did. It would be a great advantage to have some of these horses to copy, as well as the costumes, Greek, Persian, Indian, etc.’ (E. Delacroix, The Journal of Eugène Delacroix, translated by L. Norton, London, 1995, pp. 49-50). Delacroix is referring to his friend the painter Jules-Robert Auguste from whom he was hoping to borrow the exotic costumes that attracted his attention.

In that same year the artist painted one of his masterpieces, The Massacre at Chios, a Greek subject that must have aroused his curiosity about Greece (Paris, Musée du Louvre, inv. INV 3823; L. Johnson, The Paintings of Eugène Delacroix. A Critical Catalogue, 1816-1831, Oxford, 1981, I, no. 105; II, pl. 89).

The present watercolor can be compared with a group of four quickly sketched oil paintings, presumably also dating from the 1820s, representing Greek characters in traditional costume seen from various viewpoints (ibid., nos. 28-31). Particularly close to the present drawing is the composition in the Göteborgs Konstmuseum in Gothenburg (fig. 1).

Fig. 1. Eugène Delacroix, Study of a figure in Greek costume. Göteborgs Konstmuseum, Gothenburg.