FANTIN-LATOUR, Henri
(b. 1836, Grenoble, d. 1904, Orne)

Hommage to Delacroix

1864
Oil on canvas, 160 x 250 cm
Musée d'Orsay, Paris

This painting is the first in a series of pictures that Fantin-Latour painted of friends, which, along with his delicate still-lifes of flowers was to bring him fame. It was painted one year after the death of Delacroix, who appears as a portrait in the centre of the picture, honoured by a bouquet of flowers placed in front of it. Fantin-Latour painted the portrait from a photograph that had been published ten years previously.

The ten painters and critics who have gathered to pay their respects to Delacroix are, from left to right, Louis Cordier, the critic Edmond Duranty, Alphonse Legros, the artist himself (the only figure appearing in his shirt-sleeves, palette in hand), followed by Whistler, Champfleury, Edouard Manet, Félix Braquemond, the poet Charles Baudelaire, and Albert de Balleroy.