Liberty Leading the People
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| French: La Liberté guidant le peuple | |
 |
|
| Artist | Eugène Delacroix |
|---|---|
| Year | 1830 |
| Type | Oil on canvas |
| Dimensions | 260 cm × 325 cm (102.4 in × 128.0 in) |
| Location | Louvre[1], Paris |
Liberty Leading the People (French: La Liberté guidant le peuple) is a painting by Eugène Delacroix commemorating the July Revolution of 1830, which toppled Charles X. A woman personifying Liberty leads the people forward over the bodies of the fallen, holding the tricolore flag of the French Revolution in one hand and brandishing a bayonetted musket with the other. This is perhaps Delacroix's best-known painting, having carved its own niche in popular culture.
Contents |
[edit] Painting
Delacroix painted his work in the autumn of 1830. In a letter to his brother dated 12 October, he wrote: "My bad mood is vanishing thanks to hard work. I’ve embarked on a modern subject—a barricade. And if I haven’t fought for my country at least I’ll paint for her." The painting was first exhibited at the official Salon of May 1831. Delacroix rejected the norms of Academicism in favor of Romanticism.
He depicted Liberty, personified by Marianne, symbol of the nation, as both an allegorical goddess-figure and a robust woman of the people, an approach that contemporary critics denounced as "ignoble". The mound of corpses acts as a kind of pedestal from which Liberty strides, barefoot and bare-breasted, out of the canvas and into the space of the viewer. The Phrygian cap she wears had come to symbolise liberty during the French Revolution of 1789.
The fighters are from a mixture of social classes, ranging from the upper classes represented by the young man in a top hat, to the revolutionary middle class or (bourgeoisie), as exemplified by the boy holding pistols (who may have been the inspiration for the character Gavroche in Victor Hugo's Les Misérables).[2] What they have in common is the fierceness and determination in their eyes. Aside from the flag held by Liberty, a second, minute tricolore can be discerned in the distance flying from the towers of Notre Dame.
The identity of the man in the top hat has been widely debated. The suggestion that it was a self-portrait by Delacroix has been discounted by modern art historians.[3] In the late 19th century, it was suggested the model was the theatre director Etienne Arago; others have suggested the future curator of the Louvre, Frédéric Villot;[2] but there is no firm consensus on this point.
[edit] Usage
The French government bought the painting in 1831 for 3,000 francs with the intention of displaying it in the throne room of the Palais du Luxembourg as a reminder to the "citizen-king" Louis-Philippe of the July Revolution, through which he had come to power. This plan did not come to fruition and the canvas was hung in the Palace museum for a few months before being taken down for its inflammatory political message. Delacroix was permitted to send the painting to his aunt Félicité for safekeeping. It was exhibited briefly in 1848 and then in the Salon of 1855. In 1874, the painting entered the Louvre.
[edit] Legacy
It inspired the Statue of Liberty in New York City, which was given to the United States as a gift from the French only 50 years after "Liberty Leading the People" had been painted. The statue, which holds a torch in its hand, takes a stance similar to that of the woman in the painting.
An engraved version of this painting, along with a depiction of Delacroix himself, was featured on the 100-franc note in the early 1990s.
The painting is frequently reproduced or reinterpreted in popular culture, and has recently been featured on the front cover of Eric Hobsbawm's Age of Revolution, Fareed Zakaria's The Future of Freedom: Illiberal Democracy at Home and Abroad, The Economist, and in the artwork for Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends by Coldplay. The painting has had an influence on classical music as well; George Antheil titled his Symphony No. 6 After Delacroix, and stated that the work was inspired by his viewing of a copy of Liberty Leading the People.[4]
[edit] References
- ^ http://www.flickr.com/photos/troye/3208349064/sizes/l/in/set-72157612579938368/
- ^ a b Pool 1969, p.33.
- ^ Toussaint, Hélene, (1982). La Liberté guidant le peuple de Delacroix. Paris: Editions de la Réunion des Musées Nationaux
- ^ http://www.classical.net/~music/recs/reviews/c/cpo99604a.php
 |
This article includes a list of references, related reading or external links, but its sources remain unclear because it lacks inline citations. Please improve this article by introducing more precise citations where appropriate. (February 2008) |
[edit] Bibliography
 |
Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Liberty Leading the People |
- Pool, Phoebe (1969). Delacroix. London: Hamlyn. ISBN 0600037967
- Prideaux, Tom, etc. (1972). The World of Delacroix. United States: Time Life.
- Toussaint, Hélene, (1982). La Liberté guidant le peuple de Delacroix. Paris: Editions de la Réunion des Musées Nationaux.
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
