DELACROIX, Eugène
(b. 1798, Charenton-Saint-Maurice, d. 1863, Paris)

Faust Trying to Seduce Margarete (detail)

1828
Lithograph
Musée Eugène Delacroix, Paris

Of all the artists of his time, as The Barque of Dante and The Shipwreck of Don Juan illustrate, Delacroix is undoubtedly the most literary in inspiration. From the moment he began to paint, first under the undemanding supervision of his teacher, the academic Guérin, then at Géricault's side, the young Delacroix never ceased to build on the solid literary education that he had received at the Lycée Imperial (now the Lycée Louis-le-Grand).

It was in England that Delacroix's relation to literature received a determining impetus. The world of Goethe was revealed to him by a performance of Faust given by an English company. For Delacroix, the key figure is not Faust, but, of course, Mephistopheles, demonic and Romantic in equal measure. He executed seventeen plates representing scenes from Goethe's Faust.

Predictably, the critics censored what they saw as technical eccentricity - Delacroix's almost completely inked plates and slashing use of the scraper. In their view, his forms and figures lacked purity and his poses were excessively contorted. But Goethe himself was delighted. Eckermann recorded his jjudgment: "'It must be admitted,' said Goethe, 'that I myself scarcely imagined the scene so perfectly! M. Delacroix is a great artist of exceptional talent, who has found in Faust precisely the subject that suits him. The French criticise his impulsive style; but here it is just what is required. He will - at least, I hope he will - illustrate the whole of Faust, and I look forward to the pleasure of seeing it, particularly the witches' kitchen and the Brocken scenes. Clearly Delacroix has a profound knowledge of life; in such matters a city like Paris is the perfect teacher.'"

Suggested listening (streaming mp3, 14 minutes):
Charles Gounod: Faust, Ballet music