Eugène Delacroix was a French artist and painter who is considered the leading light of the Romantic movement in his country.

In contrast with the Neoclassical perfectionism of his chief rival, Ingres, Delacroix sought his inspiration in the style of Rubens and of the Venetian Renaissance artists, thus placing the emphasis on colour and movement rather than on clarity of silhouette. Dramatic and romantic content characterised the central themes of his artistic maturity, when he travelled in North Africa in search of the exotic. A friend and the spiritual heir of Théodore Géricault, Delacroix also drew his inspiration from Lord Byron.

According to Baudelaire, “Delacroix was passionately in love with passion, but coldly determined to express that passion in the clearest possible manner”.

His use of expressive brushwork and his study of the optical effects of colour profoundly shaped the style of the Impressionists, while his passion for the exotic inspired the artists of the Symbolist movement. A sophisticated lithographer, Delacroix illustrated various works by William Shakespeare, Scottish writer Walter Scott and German author Johann Wolfgang von Goethe.