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Soldats orientaux endormis dans un poste de garde
Details
EUGÈNE-VICTOR-FERDINAND DELACROIX (CHARENTON-SAINT-MAURICE 1798-1863 PARIS)
Soldats orientaux endormis dans un poste de garde
signé 'Eug Delacroix' (en bas à gauche) et avec numérotation '6.' (verso, au graphite)
graphite, aquarelle et gouache
16,3 x 19,3 cm (6 3⁄8 x 7 5⁄8 in.)
Soldats orientaux endormis dans un poste de garde
signé 'Eug Delacroix' (en bas à gauche) et avec numérotation '6.' (verso, au graphite)
graphite, aquarelle et gouache
16,3 x 19,3 cm (6 3⁄8 x 7 5⁄8 in.)
Provenance
Offert par l'artiste au Comte Charles-Édouard de Mornay (1803-1878); sa vente, Paris, 29 mars 1877, lot 16 (adjugé 820 francs);
Acquis au cours de celle-ci par Sourdeval (selon Robaut, op. cit).
Vente anonyme; Galerie Charpentier, Paris, 3 décembre 1957, lot 42 (adjugé 1 450 000 francs);
Acquis au cours de celle-ci par Doña Graziella Patiño de Ortiz Linares (1900-1980) et Son Excellence Don Jorge Ortiz Linares (1894-1965), Château du Moulinet ;
Puis par descendance.
Acquis au cours de celle-ci par Sourdeval (selon Robaut, op. cit).
Vente anonyme; Galerie Charpentier, Paris, 3 décembre 1957, lot 42 (adjugé 1 450 000 francs);
Acquis au cours de celle-ci par Doña Graziella Patiño de Ortiz Linares (1900-1980) et Son Excellence Don Jorge Ortiz Linares (1894-1965), Château du Moulinet ;
Puis par descendance.
Literature
A. Robaut, L'Œuvre complet de Eugène Delacroix. Peintures, dessins, gravures, lithographies, Paris, 1885, n° 507.
L. Johnson, The paintings of Eugène Delacroix: A critical catalogue 1816-1863, Oxford, 1986, III, p. 187, sous le n° 374.
M. Arama, Le Maroc de Delacroix, Paris, 1987, n° 12.
L. Johnson, The paintings of Eugène Delacroix: A critical catalogue 1816-1863, Oxford, 1986, III, p. 187, sous le n° 374.
M. Arama, Le Maroc de Delacroix, Paris, 1987, n° 12.
Exhibited
Paris, Institut du Monde Arabe, Delacroix, le voyage au Maroc, 1994-1995, n° 54 (catalogue par E. Pisani, M. Bennouna, et al.).
Further Details
EUGÈNE-VICTOR-FERDINAND DELACROIX, SOLDIERS ASLEEP IN A GUARD POST, GRAPHITE, WATERCOLOR AND BODYCOLOR, SIGNED
At the age of thirty-three, Eugène Delacroix accompanied the diplomatic delegation of Count Charles-Édouard de Mornay (1803-1878), sent by King Louis-Philippe to Morocco to meet Sultan Moulay Abd-er-Rahman (1778-1859). The mission aimed to strengthen peaceful relations with the emperor and firm up British commercial interests already established in the country. Having arrived in Tangier on 24 February 1832, the delegation crossed northern Morocco on horseback and reached Meknes on 15 March, where they stayed for twenty days. Their arrival in the city profoundly transformed Delacroix’s perception:
'Now this is truly Africa. Our arrival here is of extraordinary beauty, and it is an experience one could well wish to have only once in a lifetime.' (E. Delacroix, Letter to Jean-Baptiste Pierret, 16 March 1832, Correspondance générale, I, 1936, p. 320)
The young Delacroix had been fascinated by the Orient long before this point, however, as evidenced by his Orientalist compositions exhibited at the Salon, such as Scenes from the Massacres at Chios of 1824 (Louvre Museum, inv. 3823) and The Death of Sardanapalus three years later (Louvre Museum, inv. RF 2346). Yet, as he travelled from city to city, his discovery of a culture that had previously existed only in his imagination proved revelatory for the artist’s eye. This formative experience infused him with a new creative energy that would nourish his work until the end of his life. During the journey, he made hundreds of small graphite sketches drawn from life, which he later enhanced with watercolor.
This body of work constitutes a famous record of the journey, and Delacroix would revisit these drawn memories in dozens of paintings. The subject of the present sheet gave rise to a painted composition exhibited at the Salon of 1837 under the title Guardhouse at Meknes or Sleeping Moroccans (fig. 1; Von der Heydt Museum, Wuppertal, inv. G 1297; L. Johnson, The Paintings of Eugène Delacroix, A Critical Catalogue 1816-1831, 1981, III, no. 374, IV, pl. 184). An autograph replica from 1846, commissioned by M. de Cailleux, Director of Museums, acting on behalf of the Duke of Aumale, is now housed at the Musée Condé (inv. PE 457; Johnson, op. cit., III, no. 375, IV, pl. 185).
The drawn subject was treated on three occasions before being revisited in oil five years later. On folio 25 of the 'Burty Notebook', used from March to May 1832 and preserved at the Louvre Museum, a small sketch, intitled A Small View of the Guardhouse at Meknes, demonstrates how Delacroix progressed from a rapid sketch to a highly detailed autonomous work. The present sheet corresponds to the second version of this composition, executed upon his return in 1833 (A. Robaut, L’Œuvre complet d’Eugène Delacroix, Paris, 1885, no. 507). It was conceived as a ricordo, or memento, for Count de Mornay (see provenance) and inserted into an album of eighteen watercolors executed during the two weeks spent in Toulon and presented to the former Gentleman of the Chamber under Charles X as a token of gratitude for the journey.
Dispersed at public auction on 29 March 1877, several watercolors from this album are now held by major institutions: two at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York (inv. 1972.118.210 and 63.215), two at the Louvre Museum (inv. RF 3372 and RF 4612), one at the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco (inv. 1951.35), and one at the Fogg Art Museum in Cambridge (inv. 1943.351).
Here, the artist depicts two Alaouite guards dozing, wrapped in their white burnouses (hooded cloaks). The work testifies to Delacroix’s close attention to the faithful representation of these soldiers, also seen in his Standing Arab, sold at Christie’s Paris on 24 March 2021, lot 87 (fig. 2; Robaut, op. cit., 1885, no. 1587). In portraying these figures, he discovered new models whose noble bearing he compared to the heroes of Greek antiquity: 'All of this in white, like the senators of Rome and the Panathenaic procession of Athens.'
(E. Delacroix, Correspondance générale, 29 February 1832, p. 319).
In the foreground lie a saddle and a girth strap. The light flooding in from the right reveals, in the background, a pile of garments, equestrian tack, a water jug, and two long rifles used in fantasias, military displays demonstrating the horsemanship and combat skills of cavalrymen. This scene may be compared with another drawing from the Mornay Album depicting the military leader Caïd Mohammed-ben-Abou, draped in white and blue, in the tranquility of his white-walled interior (fig. 3, private collection; Robaut, op. cit., 1885, no. 509).
In a remarkably fine state of preservation and retaining exceptional freshness, this watercolor, most of whose companion works from the same series formerly belonging to Count de Mornay are now preserved in major international institutions, reappears on the market today after having remained out of public view since its last appearance at auction more than half a century ago.
Figures:
Fig. 1: E.-V.-F. Delacroix, Guardhouse at Meknes or Sleeping Moroccans, oil on canvas, Von der Heydt Museum.
Fig. 2: E.-V.-F. Delacroix, Standing Arab, graphite, watercolor, and gouache, private collection.
Fig. 3: E.-V.-F. Delacroix, Caïd Mohammed-ben-Abou in an Interior, watercolor, private collection.
At the age of thirty-three, Eugène Delacroix accompanied the diplomatic delegation of Count Charles-Édouard de Mornay (1803-1878), sent by King Louis-Philippe to Morocco to meet Sultan Moulay Abd-er-Rahman (1778-1859). The mission aimed to strengthen peaceful relations with the emperor and firm up British commercial interests already established in the country. Having arrived in Tangier on 24 February 1832, the delegation crossed northern Morocco on horseback and reached Meknes on 15 March, where they stayed for twenty days. Their arrival in the city profoundly transformed Delacroix’s perception:
'Now this is truly Africa. Our arrival here is of extraordinary beauty, and it is an experience one could well wish to have only once in a lifetime.' (E. Delacroix, Letter to Jean-Baptiste Pierret, 16 March 1832, Correspondance générale, I, 1936, p. 320)
The young Delacroix had been fascinated by the Orient long before this point, however, as evidenced by his Orientalist compositions exhibited at the Salon, such as Scenes from the Massacres at Chios of 1824 (Louvre Museum, inv. 3823) and The Death of Sardanapalus three years later (Louvre Museum, inv. RF 2346). Yet, as he travelled from city to city, his discovery of a culture that had previously existed only in his imagination proved revelatory for the artist’s eye. This formative experience infused him with a new creative energy that would nourish his work until the end of his life. During the journey, he made hundreds of small graphite sketches drawn from life, which he later enhanced with watercolor.
This body of work constitutes a famous record of the journey, and Delacroix would revisit these drawn memories in dozens of paintings. The subject of the present sheet gave rise to a painted composition exhibited at the Salon of 1837 under the title Guardhouse at Meknes or Sleeping Moroccans (fig. 1; Von der Heydt Museum, Wuppertal, inv. G 1297; L. Johnson, The Paintings of Eugène Delacroix, A Critical Catalogue 1816-1831, 1981, III, no. 374, IV, pl. 184). An autograph replica from 1846, commissioned by M. de Cailleux, Director of Museums, acting on behalf of the Duke of Aumale, is now housed at the Musée Condé (inv. PE 457; Johnson, op. cit., III, no. 375, IV, pl. 185).
The drawn subject was treated on three occasions before being revisited in oil five years later. On folio 25 of the 'Burty Notebook', used from March to May 1832 and preserved at the Louvre Museum, a small sketch, intitled A Small View of the Guardhouse at Meknes, demonstrates how Delacroix progressed from a rapid sketch to a highly detailed autonomous work. The present sheet corresponds to the second version of this composition, executed upon his return in 1833 (A. Robaut, L’Œuvre complet d’Eugène Delacroix, Paris, 1885, no. 507). It was conceived as a ricordo, or memento, for Count de Mornay (see provenance) and inserted into an album of eighteen watercolors executed during the two weeks spent in Toulon and presented to the former Gentleman of the Chamber under Charles X as a token of gratitude for the journey.
Dispersed at public auction on 29 March 1877, several watercolors from this album are now held by major institutions: two at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York (inv. 1972.118.210 and 63.215), two at the Louvre Museum (inv. RF 3372 and RF 4612), one at the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco (inv. 1951.35), and one at the Fogg Art Museum in Cambridge (inv. 1943.351).
Here, the artist depicts two Alaouite guards dozing, wrapped in their white burnouses (hooded cloaks). The work testifies to Delacroix’s close attention to the faithful representation of these soldiers, also seen in his Standing Arab, sold at Christie’s Paris on 24 March 2021, lot 87 (fig. 2; Robaut, op. cit., 1885, no. 1587). In portraying these figures, he discovered new models whose noble bearing he compared to the heroes of Greek antiquity: 'All of this in white, like the senators of Rome and the Panathenaic procession of Athens.'
(E. Delacroix, Correspondance générale, 29 February 1832, p. 319).
In the foreground lie a saddle and a girth strap. The light flooding in from the right reveals, in the background, a pile of garments, equestrian tack, a water jug, and two long rifles used in fantasias, military displays demonstrating the horsemanship and combat skills of cavalrymen. This scene may be compared with another drawing from the Mornay Album depicting the military leader Caïd Mohammed-ben-Abou, draped in white and blue, in the tranquility of his white-walled interior (fig. 3, private collection; Robaut, op. cit., 1885, no. 509).
In a remarkably fine state of preservation and retaining exceptional freshness, this watercolor, most of whose companion works from the same series formerly belonging to Count de Mornay are now preserved in major international institutions, reappears on the market today after having remained out of public view since its last appearance at auction more than half a century ago.
Figures:
Fig. 1: E.-V.-F. Delacroix, Guardhouse at Meknes or Sleeping Moroccans, oil on canvas, Von der Heydt Museum.
Fig. 2: E.-V.-F. Delacroix, Standing Arab, graphite, watercolor, and gouache, private collection.
Fig. 3: E.-V.-F. Delacroix, Caïd Mohammed-ben-Abou in an Interior, watercolor, private collection.
Brought to you by
Paul Gallois
Head of European Furniture, EMEA