Head, Shoulder, and Foot, Studies for "Scenes from the Chios Massacres"

Eugène Delacroix French

Not on view

This study of a cadaverous figure relates to Delacroix’s ambitious submission to the Salon of 1824, "Scenes from the Massacres at Chios" (1823; Musée du Louvre). The slaughter of tens of thousands of Greeks by Ottoman troops on the island of Chios escalated the Greek War of Independence (1821−30), and these events, which riveted the French public, fueled Delacroix’s conception of his canvas. The moribund expression of the head in the drawing conveys the shock and disbelief of a witness to inhumane tragedy.

Head, Shoulder, and Foot, Studies for "Scenes from the Chios Massacres", Eugène Delacroix (French, Charenton-Saint-Maurice 1798–1863 Paris), Graphite

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