Greece on the ruins of Mesolongi

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Greece on the ruins of Mesolongi (La Grèce sur les ruines de Missolonghi) (Eugène Delacroix)
Greece on the ruins of Mesolongi
(La Grèce sur les ruines de Missolonghi)
Eugène Delacroix , 1826
Oil on canvas
209 × 147 cm
Musée des beaux arts, Bordeaux

Greece on the ruins of Mesolongi , (Original title: French La Grèce sur les ruines de Missolonghi ) is a romantic painting by Eugène Delacroix from 1826. It depicts an allegory on Greece, referring to the tragically ended siege of Mesolongi during the Greek Revolution relates. The picture has been in the Musée des Beaux-Arts, Bordeaux , since 1852 .

Description, background and history

Preliminary drawing of the female figure with a crown, which is an attribute of the goddess Tyche; Paris, Louvre

The picture has the dimensions 209 × 147 cm and is carried out using the technique of oil painting on canvas. Delacroix's signature is on the chunk of wall below the hem of the coat. In the Musée des Beaux-Arts it bears the inventory number "Bx E 439".

The background to the painting is the fighting in the Greek city of Mesolongi, which was besieged twice by the Ottomans during the Greek Revolution and whose defenders blew themselves up with the remaining powder in a hopeless position when ingested.

The painting is dominated by an upright female figure in Greek costume, who rises above blood-splattered rubble. While your left leg is kneeling on a block, your right leg is straight. So Delacroix represents on the one hand the defeat of the Greeks, but on the other hand also their hoped-for heroic victory in the future. The woman's arms are outstretched and show the palms, she is not carrying a weapon. The expression on your face seems cleared up by the sad serenity. There are tears in her eyes. She wears a flowered scarf on her head. Over the white tunic-like dress with a generous cleavage , she wears an open, bluish, shiny and red-lined noble coat, which is held together with a golden cloth in front of her stomach, and red shoes. In the background on the left the ruins of Mesolongi can be seen, on the right in the background stands in a triumphant pose, looking to the right, an armed, dark-skinned soldier in the service of the Ottomans. He wears a turban on his head and a sirwal as trousers . He probably comes from North Africa.

In the foreground on the right is a dead man's hand between the rubble. It is probably Lord Byron , admired by Delacroix , who died in Mesolongi and to whom the artist wanted to set a memorial.

For this picture, Delacroix again chose the tried and tested high-contrast coloring that he already used for the Dante bark . Cold tones, like the blue or gray-blue of the woman's coat, and the warm tones of the yellow or gold belt, the soldier's clothing, the rubble and the red of Lord Byron's sleeve, contrast with the white of the dress and the black hairstyle of the Woman.

The philhellenism attached, Delacroix worked long with the freedom struggle of the Greeks, who was in Europe mainly talk of the young educated. After the Congress of Vienna , which created a paralyzing political atmosphere, this revolution was an idealistic departure for the youth. Based on his picture The Massacre of Chios , which recreates a seemingly real scene, an allegory was planned this time. He wanted to go beyond the topicality of the real and give Greek history a stronger meaning through allegory. But he also wanted to show his buyer audience so that he all types of representation of history painting dominated, especially in large formats. For the clothing of the models in his picture, the artist was able to use his colleague Jules Robert Auguste , who had a rich stock of costumes and props.

The models for this picture come from early Christian antiquity in Greece. There are preliminary drawings of the allegorical female figure showing her with a crown. The crown is an attribute of the goddess Tyche who protected the city during the Hellenistic period . The posture of women is reminiscent of the posture used in prayer in the first Christian centuries. The model is a Pietà by Raphael , which Delacroix knew as a copper engraving by Marcantonio Raimondi . The clothing, consisting of the blue coat and the white tunic dress, relates to the Immaculate Conception and therefore points to a secularized figure of Mary . The statement is clear: "The Ottoman occupiers will never succeed in sullying Greece."

The picture was first shown in the summer of 1826 in an exhibition on the subject of the “Greek struggle for freedom” in the Paris gallery Lebrun and was mostly positively received by the critics, but it did not find a buyer. It was not until 1852 that the city of Bordeaux, after tough negotiations with Delacroix, bought the painting for their museum for 2500 francs.

review

The conservative Journal des débats (issue of July 13, 1826) judged the picture unusually harshly . Delacroix may have talent, but his execution is sloppy. One can recognize a glimmer of reason, or a flash of inspiration, but that gets lost in all the nonsense. Victor Hugo judged quite differently, but soon turned away from Delacroix again. He wrote:

“We don't necessarily like allegories; but this is extremely interesting. This woman who represents Greece [Note: It is Delacroix's model Laura who is mentioned in his diary of 1824] is so beautiful in her posture and in her expression! The triumphant Egyptian, the severed head [note: under Lord Byron's hand], the stones covered with blood, everything has something extremely pathetic about it. "

Exhibitions (selection)

  • from May 17, 1826: Exposition au profit de Grecs in the Lebrun Gallery, Paris.
  • 1893: Exposition d'art musulman in the Palais de l'industrie Paris.
  • La Grèce en révolte - Delacroix et les peintres français, 1815–1848. June 14 to September 8, 1996: Musée des beaux-arts, Bordeaux; from October 8 to January 13, 1997 at the Musée national Eugène Delacroix, Paris; from February 12 to April 25, 1997 in the National Gallery in Athens.
  • October 19, 2011 to January 15, 2012: Eugène Delacroix: de l'idée à l'expression in the CaixaForum Madrid and from February 15 to May 20, 2012 in the CaixaForum Barcelona .

literature

  • Maurice Tourneux: Eugène Delacroix (=  Les Grands artistes, leur vie, leur oeuvre ). Henri Laurens, Paris 1904, p. 21 and 28 ( gallica.bnf.fr ).
  • Maïté Bouyssy: Entre allégorie et personnification “La Grèce sur les ruines de Missolonghi” . In: Joëlle Tamine-Gardes (ed.): L'allégorie, corps et âme: entre personnification et double sens . Publications de l'Université de Provence, Aix-en-Provence 2002, ISBN 2-85399-522-4 , pp. 161-186 (French).
  • Victoria Charles, Sun Tzu: The Third Siege of Mesolongi (Missolonghi) . In: The War in Art . Parkstone International, New York 2012, ISBN 978-1-78042-501-6 , pp. 198–199 ( books.google.de - reading sample).

Web links

Commons : Greece on the ruins of Mesolongi  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Frank Anderson Trapp: The Attainment of Delacroix. The Johns Hopkins University Press 1970, ISBN 0-8018-1048-5 , p. 66.
  2. ^ Sara Lichtenstein: Delacroix and Raphael. Dissertation London 1973, in: Lee Johnson: The Paintings of Eugène Delacroix. A Critical Catalog. Volume 1, ISBN 0-19-817314-8 , p. 70.
  3. ↑ Un regard, une image on the Actualité des Arts website .
  4. ↑ Description of the picture (PDF) on the website of the Musée des beaux arts , Bordeaux.
  5. ↑ Alain Daguerre de Hureaux: Delacroix. The complete work. Belser Verlag, Stuttgart u. Zurich 1994, ISBN 3-7630-2305-4 , p. 69 ff.
  6. ^ Victor Hugo: Œuvre complètes. Volume II, Le Club français du livre, Paris 1967, p. 984.
  7. ↑ Etienne Moreau-Nélaton: La Grèce sur les ruins de Missolonghi . In: Delacroix, raconté par lui-même - étude d'après ses lettres biographique, son journal, etc . H. Laurens, Paris 1916, p. 91, 93 and 163 ( Textarchiv - Internet Archive ).
  8. ↑ 1893 exposition d'art musulman, Palais de l'industrie: catalog officiel . A. Bellier, Paris 1893, p. 175 ( Textarchiv - Internet Archive ).
  9. ^ Claire Constans: La Grèce en révolte - Delacroix et les peintres français, 1815-1848 . Réunion des musées nationaux, Paris 1996, ISBN 2-7118-3395-X , p. 122 ff . (27th Études pour La Grèce à Missolonghi to 29th La Grèce sur les ruines de Missolonghi also connu sous le titre La Grèce à Missolonghi ).
  10. ^ Sébastien Allard: La Grèce sur les ruines de Missolonghi - Delacroix et le sujet contemporain . In: Delacroix: de l'idée à l'expression (1798–1863) . Fundació "la Caixa", Madrid 2011, ISBN 978-84-95241-78-8 , p. 196-203 .