Eugène Delacroix

Eugène Delacroix was a French Romantic artist regarded as the leader of the French Romantic school. Against the Neoclassical perfectionism of his rival Ingres, he took Rubens and the painters of the Venetian Renaissance as models, stressing colour and movement over clarity of outline. His Barque of Dante was accepted by the Paris Salon of 1822, and he went on to paint the Chios Massacre and The Death of Sardanapalus. Liberty Leading the People of 1830 was bought by the French government but removed from public view by 1832. His expressive brushstrokes and study of colour shaped the work of the Impressionists.