Liberty Leading the People by Eugène Delacroix

Liberty Leading the People by Eugène Delacroix (1830)

Eugène Delacroix’s Liberty Leading the People Painting

Self Portrait by
Eugène Delacroix (1837)

Liberty Leading the People by Eugène Delacroix, is an iconic artwork attributed to the Second French Revolution, in other words July Revolution or Three Glorious Days (Trois Glorieuses in French) which refers to July 27, 28, and 29, 1830. As its contemporary home, Louvre Museum accessioned the romantic work into their french painting collection in 1874 from the Grand Palais du Luxemburg, where the large oil on canvas has been transferred after its creator died in 1863. As seen in the painting, Lady Liberty leading the people of France, is both an allegory and reality. La Marianne, the national symbol of France has been depicted as a woman warrior in yellow dress, holding the tricolor flag in her right hand and a fixed bayonet in her left. The heat of the moment makes angry crowd follow the young lady over barricades upon her war cry.

Portrait of Charles X
by François Gérard (1825)

Delacroix’s intend to create a dramatic scene fueled by actuality in order to give romantic messages into the viewer, reveals itself in the body of Marianne and the social diversity of others around her. Through the white background covered with plume of smoke, rioters from different social classes marching together for a better future. Romantic artist pushes the national flag of France to forefront by locating it on the topmost part of the canvas in order to denote the importance of equality and diversity to achieve a common goal. The armed conflict on the streets of Paris, eventuates in the overthrown of Kings Charles X and his cousin Louis-Philippe I the Duke of Orléans ascends the throne. Events of July has started in consequence of that Bourbon Restoration Government’s wish to amend the constitution through the King’s power in order to rebuild an old regime like Napoleonic Period. Ironically it ended with another constitutional monarchy under the Louis-Philippe I from the House of Orléans, who is also known as People King or Citizen King (Roi Citoyen) among french people. While King Charles X has lost his kingship and willpower over France, the cadet branch of Orléans House has reached the hereditary right for the next generations and Louis-Philippe I has had a strong will over France until the June Rebellion of 1832.

Lady Liberty Leading the People of France, as La Marianne

Liberty Leading the People
Detail of La Marianne

Lady Liberty as the national symbol of France, gathers the people of France under a single roof of patriotism and freedom, together with La Marseillaise. According to Delacroix’s sense of art, she is an insurance for new republic and the idol of milieu for whom supported French Revolution. Despite that all characters are in right scale in the painting, the grandeur of the Lady Liberty is unmatched. She shines out like a superstar in the romantic painting. The romantic artists had used the facial features and mimics of his allegorical hero in some other works like the “Women of Algiers in their Apartment”. Her classical drapery reminds ancient Greek sculptures, such as the Nike of Samothrace (Winged Victory of Samothrace) and Venus de Milo. The Phrygian bonnet she wore completes her rebellious identity, while the unity in diversity is indicated with different types of caps and fashionable clothes for the time.

Nike of Samothrace or
Winged Victory of Samothrace
(200-190 BC)

Delacroix availed himself of Hellenistic Art to give Marianne a shape like greek gods and goddesses, which were favorable contexts in their time for the large scale art. The artist aimed to unify divinity and liberation in the body of the robust woman in yellow dress. As one of the primary figures in French folklore, Marianne has been depicted many times by famous modern artists of their time through both Romantic Era and Neoclassical Art. Along with artworks such as paintings, sculptures and statues, it has been created iconographic diagrams referring Marianne on french postage stamps, political posters and even currency units including banknotes and coins for modern times. Marie and Anne, as two common names in France, come together and personify an allegory. Delacroix’s female figure painting, Marianne has cut across the national borders of France over time and became an universal work representing liberty, equality and fraternity, which were originated from Liberté, égalité, fraternité, as national motto of French Republic.

The tripartite motto, liberty cap

Venus de Milo by
Alexandros of Antioch
(150-125 BC)

, gallic rooster and French national flags with three colors, are assumed as the parts of the big picture and together they qualify a republican symbol for French folk. Delacroix utilized Marianne as the contemporary topic for a modern artisan and he handled the modern subject from a different viewpoint, as a romanticist. However, persistence of Marianne starts before the romantic painter. French illustrator Jean-Michel Moreau has painted the young woman in Greco Roman clothing, whom hanged her Phrygian cap atop a spear. The illustration had been inspired by the Voltaire’s poem of Henriade (1728). It was the first adoption of Roman Goddess of Liberty as Marianne. It followed with La Liberté by Jeanne-Louise Vallain or commonly known as Madame Piètre in 1794, commemorating the First French Revolution of 1789. Originally, Libertas was one of the mother goddess figures in the history of art. Roman religion promotes her onus as personal freedom and liberty among roman statues.

La Liberté by
Nanine Vallain (1794)

In late 18th Century, she has been derived from antiquity and purified her pragmatic sides. Lady Liberty rebirths through modernity with an alliance of values embraced by liberal republicans, such as revolutionism, democracy, secularism, civil and political rights. As a draughtsman and engraver, Moreau’s illustration was the earliest form of Liberty figure utilized by revolutionists against the tyranny. In the sequel of her first appearance, more liberal definition of Marianne became prominent as a passionate symbol during 1789 French Revolution, including events like Storming of the Bastille. Her iconic face inspiring more tumultuous feelings, was in the shadows of other visual icons of Roman Goddesses until an attack on the Tuileries Palace in August 10, 1792. They were Minerva the Goddess of Wisdom and Sol the Goddess of the Sun, together with Mercury the Messenger of the Gods.

La Marianne by
Jean-Michel Moreau
(1775)

The tumultuous disturbances started with invading the Tuileries Garden, might have stirred some extreme emotions on people, so that Roman Goddess of Freedom and her French matching Lady Liberty shine bright out of Roman Gods and Goddesses, who belongs to the times of serenity. La Marianne was an amalgam of both oriental and western culture. She was fiery and radically secularized. Her impetuous advance towards the enemy, has made her a leader the public can follow. Despite the iconography from Roman religion, she has the features of carving methods and imagery that have been widely used before Christ. Along with her waved yellow garment pointing mythology and historical Greece, she is depicted marching barefoot likewise Winged Nike Statue and Alexandros of Antioch’s Venus de Milo. Via this connection, it can be claimed that Lady Liberty also resembles Aphrodite, the Goddess of Love, Beauty and Fertility, as the greek equivalent of Venus.

Marianne’s florid face with red cheeks and

The Pietà by
Michelangelo (1498-1499)

plump lips support the claim that she has been attributed some features of Aphrodite. Her bare breasted rallying call for rest of the rioters, symbolize not only independence but the future of France over fertility concept in art, from a unique point of view. Contrary to the idealism in Hellenistic Period sculptures carved with aesthetic concerns aiming purity, Lady Liberty is faraway from this antiquity with her fierceness and vulnerable existence. She stands for a symbol of resistance for both rioters and the artist himself. Visual arts of Renaissance generally base upon perfectness and elegance.

The Birth of Venus by
Sandro Botticelli (1485-1486)

The Pietà by Michelangelo, as a Renaissance sculpture displaying a madonna of Jesus Christ and Mother Mary, serves as a model for impeccable carving. This perfection can be seen as an obsolete value in art for not only Christendom, but for mythical stories too. Art museum of Vatican City exhibits an ancient sculptures of Laocoön and His Sons, made by multiple artists, as one of the examples of myths about Trojan War. The sculptors Athenodoros, Agesander and Polydorus of Rhodes, with famous Renaissance artists Michelangelo and Titian have carved the colossal sculpture that displays ideal bodies in terms of human anatomy and perfect beauty whether the characters are men or women.

Sistine Chapel Ceiling
by Michelangelo (1508-1512)

Similar approach goes for tempera paintings like The Birth of Venus by Sandro Botticelli and ceiling paintings of Sistine Chapel, including the Creation of Adam by Michelangelo too. Titian paintings are important among other Renaissance artworks in order to understand the sense of beauty for the period. Titian’s Venus paintings, Venus with a Mirror, Venus of Urbino and Venus Anadyomene, describe the same context of Roman equivalent of Aphrodite. The Goddess of Beauty exposes the beautiful face of female figure with vibrant details like red cheeks and plump red lips in the famous renaissance paintings of Titian, likewise Delacroix’s Marianne.

Venus with a Mirror
by Titian (1555)

Throughout the art periods before Romantic Movement, painters used to stay away from vulgar details while depicting a gorgeous woman in art, whom dedicated to a goddess. Art movements of Mannerism, Baroque, Rococo, Neoclassicism chronologically, predicate their sense of ideal beauty on Renaissance Art. Especially when painting an allegory or divine being, the artists generally neglected bodily deformities together with human-specific features, such as skin blemishes and armpit hairs. They were assumed as morbid details for this kind of imageries according to art critics. Former painters used to pretend like they were drawing the most beautiful woman in the world for the painting subjects of ancient goddesses or related successors. Thereby, the symbol of revolution embodied through Marianne represents a revolution that has been made not only in the countryside but also in modern arts.

Venus and Amor by
Hans Holbein the Younger
(1526-1528)

Hans Holbein the Younger, known as Venus Painter created one of his temperas, named Venus and Amor revealing a face and body with the ideal beauty for the period. Marianne does not suit the ideal body measurements for women depicted by earlier artists of previous art styles. Besides her average body lines evoking a woman of the people, she has rough details like underarm hairs. Sharpness in Delacroix’s disegno and his use of counterpoints to classical approach consciously, have placed Liberty Leading the People in a unique position among other romantic paintings, however it has been described as a scandal by some art communities relying on the Academy of Fine Arts. As the prime colors of Delacroix’s color scheme, reds and blues together with white smoke background derived as an effect of sunlight halo crossover and cannon fog, create a sharp contrast on the big canvas. The artist’s painting technique in order to gain a theatrical lighting effect, is a frequently used approach that differentiate from previous art movements and artworks.

John Constable by
Daniel Gardner (1796)

Delacroix created stark contrasts with vivid colors, contrary to neoclassical art that relies on muted colors. The artist also aimed to created more realistic and dramatic scene. But dramatising comes before realism for romantics. Contrary to baroque painting utilizing light dark technique in order to create a three dimensional space, what is a chiaroscuro lighting can do, romantics abided by two dimensional art that lays out its intense drama over colors and emotions. Lady Liberty has attained the artist's aim by firing the revolutionary spirit up while it has been displaying in Salon of 1831 for the first time. Unfortunately, Louis-Philippe I ended the exhibition to preserve his political power and throne. When compared with three Caravaggio paintings on the story of David and Goliath (Madrid, Vienna, Rome) having black backgrounds, Liberty Leading the People is a riot of colors. It is obviously seen that Delacroix had not tried to create three dimensional shapes but his masterpiece is still awe inspiring.

Self Portrait by
Joseph Mallord
William Turner (1799)

As one of the romantics, English painter John Constable, famous for landscape paintings, influenced Delacroix to rupture from literal art style and adopt his brushwork to create more colorful paintings. Another English romantic artist, Joseph Mallord William Turner, whose name has also been dedicated to the character that Orlando Bloom had acted in the Pirates of the Caribbean series, was a dominant force for both advancing the romanticism movement in England and Delacroix’s different painting styles. For the English history of art, William Turner stands for the same place, where Delacroix filled for the French art history. Two romantic painters can be counted equal to each other in terms of utilizing contemporary issues of the world. Turner created plenty of watercolors and large oil paintings on canvas. The Industrial Revolution was one of his main subjects as contemporary topics for late 19th century. He highly utilized the imagery of mixed colors for the creation of atmospheric effects that reminds modern surrealism art.

Joan of Arc by
Jules Bastien-Lepage
(1879)

Clouds, high seas, streams, mountains and skies depicted with the mixture of blue and yellow, were the main details for the romantic artist to fill background image and make the observer have an unconscious mind to reach the surreal imagery and its emotional meaning. In contrast to Turner’s watercolor paintings, Delacroix’s Lady Liberty is less naive. Her stern posture without fear and urbanity also conflicts with French Christian artworks, such as famous religious paintings of Saint Joan of Arc, the Maid of Orléans or occasionally called as the Maid of Lorraine. St.Joan of Arc was the heroine of the Hundred Years War and particularly the Lancastrian War included. As one of the female visionaries and leaders of society, she used to have both physical courage and moral courage, likewise Lady Liberty.

Her devotion for the

Trial of Joan of Arc
by Paul Delaroche
(1797-1856)

Catholic Church and its religious doctrines, have been portrayed countless time through art periods from High Renaissance to Naturalism. Jules Bastien-Lepage’s Joan of Arc painting is one of the late modern period depictions of French saint, while Trial of Joan of Arc by Paul Delaroche contains highly baroque style art values, however both artists have been shared Romantic Era. She has not been only depicted as a woman with idealized beauty but the passion of Joan of Arc for her cause, was a great topic for a viraginian figure and its triumph pose. Although paintings of Jeanne d’Arc show similarities with another woman hero La Marianne via leadership qualification and the feature of being a prime for their own phase, mannerism and baroque artworks of Jeanne d’Arc exhibit a beautiful lady without any vulgar details but full of personal piety and excellence, inversely Lady Liberty. In this sense, Lady Liberty’s symbolism and uniqueness are second to none among history paintings.

The Life of Joan of Arc Triptych
by Hermann Stilke (1843)

Thereby, Liberty Leading the People had become one of the most famous paintings in the world. Red ribbon wrapping the lower torso of Marianne, echoes the color of liberty cap atop her head. Classical liberalism is defined through red color, and stands for civil liberties and economic freedom conserved by legislations. As a poorly dressed woman of people with her liberty cap, Marianne reminds the social class of sans culotte that made up the majority of the Revolutionary army of France.

A Sans-culotte with a Halberd
by Lesueur Brothers (1794)

The sans-culotte has the lexical meaning of without breeches that refer to the lower-class people of France. They were wearing silk trousers reminding golf pants that is called as knee breeches. Their iconic style of dressing was composed of these short pants, liberty caps and carmagnole, what is a kind of cropped jacket, however the upper middle class citizens among sans culottes had worn classical pantaloons or bell bottoms. The term is derived from knee patch breeches called culottes, a kind of underwear that has been dressed by nobility and bourgeoisie class. Sans culottes have been seen as dangerous ignorants by royalty and the upper class ruling the country until the French Revolutionary Wars. They became the driving force behind people during the period of revolution including Paris Uprising especially. Their rebellion depends upon both socio political factors and economic status. Poverty and despotism had been particularly affecting them, who were being employed as farm laborers or temporary workers for the factories, as opposed to urbanites. Due to their poor quality of life and solitude, they lit the torch of rising in France that leads other revolutions in Europe. In time, their high spirit bornt in the slums of Paris, broke the social stratification and brought all classes into the fold of revolution against royal line. Marianne's poor dressing and conical hat are more than references to the sans culottes, but another personification of her over the red liberty hat, as a symbol of freedom and popular sovereignty.

Women of Algiers in their Apartment
by Eugène Delacroix (1834)

She is leading the way for all rioters in the barricades and carrying flag of French Revolution, likewise sans culottes have done for France. Lady Liberty is an orient star despite her very hectic pose as a muscular woman. Her curly hair blowing in the wind gives the oil painting aliveness via motion perception. She holds an old musket with bayonet, which is a reference to the modern day together with French tricolore flag, while her emotionally expressive face and classical yellow dress have been referring to the antiquity. Marianne exhibits a gritty realism because of her utopian features. The iconic face of her reminding a marble statue in antique Greece, was a model repeated again by the artist in other romantic era paintings, such as the Women of Algiers in Their Apartment and The Massacre at Chios.

The Massacre at Chios
by Eugène Delacroix (1824)

Lady Liberty’s majestic but vulnerable being in the forefront of barricades, personifies an abstract identification for the French people, however she has inspired some natural people, who had steered the future of the world. Marie Anne Hubertine Auclert was one of them. As one of the symbol names of French Feminism, she defended the opinions of women’s clubs and gender equality. Hubertine Auclert was a physical person raised with the doctrines of roman catholic church until she moved to Paris in 1869. In conformity with the zeitgeist that reveals social and political terms like women's suffrage amendment and democratic socialism including libertarian socialism examples, she made an endeavour to reform Napoleonic Code in the manners of the legalisation of divorce and both academic and economic independence for women. Considering the 19^th and 20^th Centuries, slightly with 18^th Century, secularization and the women's rights have always been connected to revolutions. To illustrate, The Declaration of the Rights of Woman and of the Female Citizen by Olympe de Gouges, has been published during the Revolution of 1789, which was the first French Revolution bred the feminist theory.

Portrait of Olympes de Gouges
by Alexander Kucharsky (1748)

Marie Olympe de Gouges’s book had been declared to the public via Journal of the Society of 1789 (Journal de la Société de 1789), however the initiative has failed against male-dominant society. As first of the pre feminist figures in the history, Olympe de Gouges took a leading part to share the aspirations of women of all classes and abolitionism. When it comes to the 1848, the year Marie Anne Hubertine Auclert was born, Declaration of Sentiments by Elizabeth Cady Stanton has been signed in Seneca Falls, New York City. Out of 300 attendees, 32 men and 68 women including critical thinkers Martha Coffin Wright and Lucretia Coffin Mott, were the signers of the document created based upon United States Declaration of Independence and defending women's right to vote. The revolutions in France and related french paintings like Liberty Leading the People including pre feminist symbols as La Marianne, paved the way for not only the spread of the nationalist movement and a more democratic form of government, but also for women to be given their rights and to play an active role in the state government.

Magna Carta Libertatum signed
by King John of England (1215)

In 1913, with the attribution of the literature created by suffragists in recent history, Woman Suffrage Procession led by American suffragist Alice Paul, had an big universal impact on eliminating the discrimination between a man and a woman in terms of political equality. The women in politics, as one of the social reforms in worldwide was the brightest propoganda of 20th Century, when did women get the right to vote in United States of America and European Countries. Likewise every thought evolves and keeps up with the age, the idea of women vote, became integrated with civil liberties in the last century. While Ella Baker and the black freedom movement can be seen as a result of the idea of new freedom and fundamental rights ensured with 19th Amendment in Western culture, Pakistani human rights lawyer Asma Jahangir’s promotion for the human rights groups and her effort to preserve the right of bodily autonomy, are the echoes of those libertarian ideas about giving people basic rights in Middle Eastern cultures.

Guernica by Pablo Picasso (1937)

Originally, the concept of civil rights had been expressed since King John and the Magna Carta Libertatum and Sir Edward Coke’s the Petition of Rights, respectively in 13th and 17th Centuries. More recently, contemporary art movements of their ages, like romanticism and cubism have revealed modern subjects for painting and the contemporary world topics for modern artisans. Thusly, Liberty Leading the People and La Marianne have not only played a part in liberalization and the wave of democratization during the Age of Revolutions, they also became forerunners for other socio political art subjects even including Guernica by Pablo Picasso.

Illustration of Anne Bonny
in the Book of Charles Johnson
(1724)

Picasso was one of the most outstanding and important artist of the 1900's and Guernica has been accepted as most famous art piece among all war paintings in European art. In today's world, French image of Lady Liberty or La Marianne is still being an inspiration source for protest movements of 21st Century. Political interest groups like social democrats, international human rights organizations concerned with global issues regarding human rights violations and current feminist movements like Femen, are recently utilizing or being associated with Lady Liberty and its symbolic interaction. The story of La Marianne, started with antiquity had unique metamorphoses in every age throughout history. To expand, the Dutch portrait of Anne Bonny in the book of “A General History of the Pyrates” by Captain Charles Johnson stated by Marcus Rediker and the Idealized Sans-Culotte by Louis-Léopold Boilly are the examples of former versions of Liberty figure in terms of dressing and other traditional designs of the character. The French euro coins and other currencies also include the iconic face of Lady Liberty, such as old brazilian coins revealing an Afro-American composition of La Marianne’s face.

Idealized Sans-culotte by
Louis-Léopold Boilly
(1761-1845)

In addition to the presence of La Marianne, red Phrygian cap also refers to both reality and allegory in the famous painting. This red cap had been accepted as the universal symbol of liberty centuries before the First French Revolution has changed the rules of France. When the slaves of Ancient Rome and Greece were freed by their master or law courts, they would wear those Phrygian caps in an effort to evince that they are free men. French Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs states that “Mediterranean seamen and convicts manning the galleys also wore a similar type of cap, and revolutionaries from the South of France are believed to have adopted the headgear”. So that the Phrygian cap possibly was linked to revolutionaries and freedom fighters during the First French Republic aftermath Revolution of 1789. Despite the fact that Liberty Leading the People is commemoration for July Revolution, Delacroix utilized the iconic red hat to point out the spreading idea of liberal politics among society.

French Euro Coins
with La Marianne (1983)

According to “Palettes: Great Artists and Their Paintings” educational video series, X-ray fluorescence and microscopic analysis had been applied on the canvas. It is claimed that the Phrygian hat used to be painted lighter red before the artist repainted it due to politic reasons. Although Louis-Philippe I bought it for 3000 french francs to exhibit in Palace’s Royal Museum Gallery as a gesture to liberal left, the painting has been locked down and hidden from public because of the authorities marked it as extremely revolutionary and dangerous for July Monarchy too.

Liberty Leading the People Analysis

The Death of Marat by
Jacques-Louis David (1793)

Liberty Leading the People is a unique artwork in respect with its features. In respect of the hierarchy of genres in art history, historical paintings have been done on large canvases. But, the artist chose a modern subject as Barricade. The outstanding neoclassical painting The Death of Marat by Jacques-Louis David, handles a improvisational subject with baroque colors in political context, contrary to Liberty Leading the People that contextualize one of the the most important world events, July Revolution in terms of both allegory referring to ancient paste via classical figures, and gritty realism supported by vulgar details in socio political sphere. According to Academy of Fine arts, muted colors are more popular in the Age of Enlightenment. Delacroix’s usage of vivid colors reminding floral paintings, and syncretizing it with a contemporary topic was a sensationalist move for the period.

The Sultan of Morocco
by Eugène Delacroix (1845)

The artist obtained his own unique colors from different countries like Spain and Italy. He had the companionship of Count Charles de Mornay, the ambassador of People King Louis-Philippe I, in an official visit to old French colonies in North Africa, such as Morocco and Algeria. It is known that during this visit, the Sultan of holy city Meknès, Moulay Abd-Er-Rahman gifted him a horse. The painter has dedicated his famous painting "The Sultan of Morocco" to this noble ruler, as the seventh son of Alaouite Dynasty. Delacroix painted Liberty Leading the People alike current romantic paintings in terms of organization, such as Greece on the Ruins of Missolonghi and The Raft of the Medusa. The both masterpieces share similar pyramidal structure that points out the main figure of the painting. The Raft of the Medusa belongs to the Louvre collection, likewise Liberty Leading the People do.

The French Cuirassier in Liberty Leading the People

Liberty Leading the People
Detail of French Cuirassier

Liberty Leading the People reveals a troop, which was a French cuirassier. July days of revolt were a total uncertainty in political spectrum and social chaos that threatens the national sovereignty of French Kingdom. There were royalists under the King’s reign resisting the rioters from different walks of life. Among the House of Bourbon supporters depicted as a swiss guard in gray military uniform with blue jacket and a cavalryman who was a cuirassier, can be seen as fallen soldiers at right side down of the large canvas.

The Wounded Cuirassier
by Théodore Géricault (1814)

The cuirassiers were popular topics for the Romantic Period according to artists, Delacroix and Géricault, who painted The Wounded Cuirassier. The cuirassiers were common cavalry regiments of France and they used to wear single breasted jackets named habit-veste, which was introduced in 1812 by Bardin Regulations for the use of infantry forces mainly. Besides its similarity with Napoleonic Period musician uniforms, those french coats were distributed to all army classes in 1813 and utilized by artillery, dragoons and light horses too. The cuirassiers were french troops similar to hussars and both military classes have their places in French military over time. However, occurrence of hussars is mainly related to Hungarian and Serbian Armies, Ottomans modified this military class to winged hussars and drawed the advantage from their ability to move fast in heavy conflicts.

Wanderer above the Sea of Fog
by Caspar David Friedrich (1818)

While it is possible to say that the Russians and Prussians also had similar uses of this military group, the French cuirassiers stood out for their durable armor rather than their maneuverability. The cuirassier troop lying on the ground, wears white gauntlet gloves and robust silver plate. Since he is depicted face down on the street, it is not possible to see the lace color and indicate with certainty whether he was an officer or a private soldier. However, non-existence of the white colored lace and his remarkably smooth silvery armor, combined with the heraldry coat of arms on the gold embroidered military hat, it can be inferred that this cavalry is an officer. As a color expert, Delacroix was very obsessed with his color palette. He used to obtain his own oil paints and implement them on canvases in such a way that they complete each other.

Chalk Cliffs on Rügen by
Caspar David Friedrich (1818)

In this case, no brush strokes of the romantic painter are random. A piece of red paint stands out clearly on the forehead of the soldier lying on the ground. The fact that an officer of the cuirassier class, normally a horse-drawn military unit, was lying on the ground with a shot in the head is another detail the painter uses to emphasize that conflicts are not lasting in open area but narrow streets in Paris. The bodies lying at the bottom of painting constructed a pedestal shape, shows the big impact of Antoine-Jean Gros to Delacroix’s art style. Similar architecture can be observed in Caspar David Friedrich paintings, such as “Wanderer above the Sea of Fog” and “Chalk Cliffs on Rügen”. The main purpose of this design to fill the bottom part of the big canvases for creating an illusion that impress the observer over depth perception.

The Swiss Guard in Liberty Leading the People

Liberty Leading the People reveals

Liberty Leading the People
Detail of Swiss Guard

another fallen soldier next to cuirassier, a swiss national guard armed with cream pants and blue top, indicates fraternity. Along with Swiss Guards regiments had served to many European courts for different periods of time, first establishment of them to French Court as the Hundred Swiss, coincides the years between 1490 and 1817. Although most known use of them is in Vatican City as Papal Swiss Guards, this class has been utilized by Napoleon and the Bourbon Restoration too. His white torn socks are obvious under the loose fitting trouser.

Storming of the Bastille
by Jean-Pierre Houël (1789)

Besides gray details, his shoulder epaulettes and underwear are also white, and they have the purpose of echoing the French Flag at the medium of canvas. Delacroix’s intend to create echoing colors to tricolore flag, shows itself in rest of the famous painting. Red, blue and white are the primary colors for the artist’s palette and the army guard has this feature. While the red stripe on the white collar of the soldier's jacket is a reference to the third main color red, his blond hair mirrors the little use of yellow paint in sky blue around the symbol of France Marianne. Although the importance of Swiss guards in July Revolution still remains as a mystery, it can be deducted that their loyalty shall have encouraged the romantic artist to put one of them into the painting as a complement for the bottom part of pyramid shape.

2017 Bastille Day
Eiffel Tower, Paris

Actually, their role starts with the Storming of Bastille (or Fall of Bastille), a historical event that occurred just before the French Revolution of 1789. They were a small group of guardsmen regiments of Bastille Prison or Bastille Saint-Antoine, a medieval fortress built on monumental architecture that used to be seen as a symbol of strength for the Kings of France and royal family for centuries since its construction in 1380s. They tried to protect the state prison and acted in the name of current monarchy, King Louis XVI. Along with French Guards mutineers, great number of peasants, craftsmen and store owners living in Paris, have participated the uprising against injustice and totalistic government.

Capture of the Tuileries Palace by
Jean Duplessis-Bertaux (1793)

While Swiss Guards on defence have been captured by angry mob in the end of the event, the destruction of Bastille Fortress has led to the French Revolution of 1789 that continued with other insurrections. and had the biggest impact on the terms and politic movements like anarchy, nationalism, abolishment of slavery, individual rights and vindication of the rights of women in todays real politics. There remains countless paintings and drawings commemorating the 14 July 1789, the date also known as a French National Day called Bastille Day, which is regularly celebrated with military parades, balls, concerts and firework shows around the Eiffel Tower. The existence of Swiss Guards continued with the Defense of Tuileries Palace in central Paris during the First French Revolution.

The Blue Room by
Pablo Picasso (1901)

The event also called The Insurrection of 10 August 1792 had led many of them to death before the July Revolt. While Jean Duplessis-Bertau has depicted The Storming of the Tuileries as a documentary of rebellion full of heroic poses, quite the contrary, Delacroix’s aim in Liberty Leading the People, was to reveal pathos thought his masterpiece that depends on both actuality and fiction. That explains the misery of the man from top to toe and depicts how brutal the conflict was. Same approach of art that aims to put pathos into the forefront can be observed in The Old Guitarist and The Blue Room as Blue Period paintings of Pablo Picasso, the one of the greatest painters of all time, who availed himself of 19^th Century romanticism and expressionism to create the astonishing power of emotions via use of color with original ideas.

The Hector alike Man in Liberty Leading the People

Liberty Leading the People painting tells

Liberty Leading the People
Detail of Hector alike Man

same misery standing for the half naked man in white shirt next to the Swiss soldier. The poor guy lying down on his back, represents sacrifice and wild nature of revolutions. The best guess about the prominently located area covered by his presence is that the artist felt need to impress the observers due to large canvas size. His dark red hair color and a piece of blood on the waist region, address to the red part of French national flag, while other primary colors are completed with blue sock and white top. The man was probably dragged out of the bedroom of his home in the middle of the night by royalist soldiers or some supporters of the crown. The only clothes of the murdered man are a single blue sock and a white long sleeve shirt what people wear in night. While blue socks may represent luck according to community, art historians indicate that his pose evoking a heroic failure against Achilles that Prince Hector in Troy had in story of the Iliad and Odyssey by Homer.

Achilles Dragging the Body of Hector
by Pietro Testa (1612-1650)

Achilles Dragging the Body of Hector, an etching made in early 17^th Century by Pietro Testa as a part of three prints commemorating the Life of Achilles, exhibits the same pose that Delacroix’s victom has. Liberty Leading the People includes inspirations and perspectives referring both Greek ancient history and Roman culture. His masterpiece containing details of old myths and current conditions of revolutionary France, inspired artworks made later on. Honoré Daumier’s Transnonain Street (Rue Transnonain) that depicts Parisians executed by royalist civil guards in their apartments, might be one of the references in art prints that point out Delacroix’s masterpiece.

Transnonain Street by
Honoré Daumier (1834)

The black and white lithograph in Yale University Art Gallery, reveals the murder of common people who has been living at the corner of Rue Transnonain and Rue de Montmorency 51. Apart from its notorious reputation, Rue de Montmorency 51 is very famous among Paris streets, as it is the place where the alchemist Nicolas Flamel, who was renowned in the 21st century with movies like Harry Potter and Fantastic Beasts Series, also lived. As a realist painter, Daumier created the print with the cold facts of massacre referring April 13, 1834. La Association Mensuelle published his work in order to reveal the truths about Rue Transnonain against partisan press, which has been clamped down by Louis-Philippe I, the People King of France. In lithograph, the action poses Monsieur Daubigny, a paralyzed old man slaughtered next to his rumpled bed.

Achilles Dragging the Body of Hector
around the Walls of Troy
by Gavin Hamilton (1775)

In the view of his garments and fate, it comes out that Delacroix’s depiction was an inspiration source for Daumier too. As one of the most famous artists in the world of visual arts, Eugène Delacroix had has a special education including ancient history and art periods. As this point of view, his use of different materials from historical context could make sense according to art history. Besides, among his fellows who have passed through Neo Classicism and shared the Romantic Period art, creating iconic paintings on the topics of ancient stories that include heroism and victory, was very common situation in general. As a modern artisan in 19^th Century France, Delacroix’s enthusiasm and intellectual profundity in ancient greek culture led him to derive a visual icon from Homer's Iliad and Odyssey. Then, he adapted his iconography to the Age of Revolution in order to emphasise spirit of the time.

King Priam Pleading for the
Body of Hector by
Gavin Hamilton (1775)

Neo Classical history painter Gavin Hamilton had also depicted the death of Hector in two oil on canvases created in 1775 before Delacroix has not finished his most beautiful painting yet. They are Achilles Dragging the Body of Hector Around the Walls of Troy and King Priam Pleading for the Body of Hector respectively. It is clear that Delacroix was influenced by Hamilton and adapted heroic death of Hector to the desperate image of the man he portrayed. Hector was a first born of the King Priam, greatest warrior of Troy and a military leader, however the guy Delacroix portrayed was nameless person who faced brutal attack of the King’s men. The artist attributes a monumental value to whom sacrificed themselves for a noble cause by illustrating him as a heroic fighter such as Hector. The man in long nightshirt shares the same terrible fate as Hector the Homeric hero had versus Achilles during the Trojan War, while the painter not only completes the base of the pyramidal composition he built in his masterpiece, but also refers to the dark side of the revolution via loss of lives.

The Young Infantry in Liberty Leading the People

Liberty Leading the People
Detail of Young Infantry
on Cobblestones

Liberty Leading the People painting reveals a civil war between republicanism and royalism. Not only adults but also younger generation participated the conflicts and later political events for a France reformed with republican values and the aim of defending freedom under the leadership of Lady Liberty that is uniting the people from all social strata. A wide eyed street urchin from lower class, wearing a light infantry hat with red ribbon, was a young Marianner who fulfils his patriotic duty for the homeland among other angry men. While he is holding the barricade made of cobblestones with one hand, a short saber in his right is the marker of courage according to artisan’s symbolism. The top hats and clothing of the communion, reveal a discrimination among those street fighters. While some of them represent aristocracy in their elegant outfits and headwears, the others posture as lower classes and bourgeoisie. In far left of the canvas covered with dark shadow, the young man in light infantry cap shows himself under his big brother. The artist used dark colors on the borders, with the intent of drawing attention on the medium of canvas, where Lady Liberty reveals her victorious pose.

The young guy wears a redshifted brown shirt and some bodily parts of him have been cut by the artist in order to create a holistic approach. Same condition stands for the cuirassier at the far right of the painting. Delacroix’s enthusiasm in creative arts and new approaches, as the factors made him one of the fathers of Romanticism, have pushed him to create a scene, which is designed to display its story from the perspective of human eye. In the middle of this catastrophic event, City of Paris has no social order. While day laborers, nobles and the class of petit bourgeois create a beautiful chaos with fallen ones under the flag of French Revolution, the young infantry contributes to the sociocultural diversity.

The Boy as the Inspirer of Gavroche, Les Misérables

Liberty Leading the People
Detail of Gavroche

Liberty Leading the People painting includes a young figure participated the revolution. The youngest character in the painting next to the Marianne, a small boy wearing school uniform represents the strength of youth and sacrifice. He carries two pistols in both hands and points the guns towards sky and ground. According to art critics, the boy in school dress is also a forerunner for the Victor Hugo character, Le Gavroche in Les Misérables. His white and black clothes are completed with a faluche, a kind black beret made of velvet, which was commonly used among the students of art colleges in Paris, however Victor Hugo described his character as a street urchin. When the size of canvas is considered, the area covered by Gavroche, gains an additional importance. He is the closest person to the female figure of Liberty and is one step ahead of her. The artist placed the young boy in front of the Marianne to point out the importance of children for the future of France. Excluding the bodies of fallen ones and the adolescent boy kneeling beside Lady Liberty, the young stroller has been placed closer to the viewers than others and he is looking straight in the eyes of observers.

Illustration of Gavroche
in Les Misérables
by Émile Bayard
(1837-1891)

Although they are both fictional characters, what the kid stands for is not as intangible as La Marianne. During the July Revolution of 1830, about 600 people including men, women and children, lost their lives in violent conflicts lasted only three days of revolt. Delacroix’s character was only one of them as a simple stroller rallying towards the injustice of the monarch and royal army. As another element, the school satchel he is wearing, supports the idea that he was studying one of the art schools in France. Satchels with coat of arms that symbolize varying art institutions, are regular school bags for boys in early and late 19^th Century fashion. In the famous Victor Hugo novel, Gavroche is written as a Parisian street child, and his name has become a french saying to define all of those kids over time. Delacroix’s young rioter was a part the barricades in the July Revolution of 1830, while Les Misérables portrays that how did Gavroche die in the same barricades during the June Rebellion of 1832. Victor Hugo is lightning history of French people in the grip of poor economic state and cholera epidemic in the reign of King Louis-Philippe I.

Liberty Leading the People
Detail of Embroidered Bag

Via this connection, the novel published in 1862 could help to analyse Gavroche character due to that both artworks have shared same recent history. According to text, the kid was on the barricades for collecting cartridge pouches the royal army left behind. Two romantic artists in different genres, created this little hero character from separated point of views. The famous novelist describes Le Gavroche Thénardier sentimentally as a dirty street urchin, whose short curly hairs, while Delacroix’s young rioter has auburn waved hair under his black velvet beret. He was well dressed with a brown trouser and shoes and the appearance was completed with a black waistcoat that echoes the classical dress of the black top hat man in the other side of Liberty painting.

Heraldic Shield of
Bourbons (1815-1830)

Contrary to his appearance that looks like a student, the embroidered bag might not be a satchel but a leather cartridge pouch in reference to Victor Hugo’s Les Misérables book. Then, the coat of arm might be representing one of the royal crests that King's soldiers carry on. A closer look at the canvas, reveals similarity between the heraldic shield of Bourbons and the coat of arms that Gavroche carries on. As a symbol of the dynasty or noble family in charge, royal coat of arms is a visual design, which is usually embroidered by a manual labor on surcoats, tabards, escutcheons or crests. While those small artworks are also being utilized as unique logos by trademarks, corporations, states and even non-profit organizations in order to create a good recognition level over visual identity in today’s world, they had been used alike for the purpose of having dignity and well awareness level before the modern world.

Bourbon Restoration Flag
with Three Golden Insignia
(1815-1830)

During the Bourbon Restoration in France between 6 April 1814 and 21 January 1830, the constitutional monarchy has also used several coats of arms belonging to different municipal courts or representing the intellectual property of Bourbon Family. They were resembling each other and the one painted on the boy's bag in the famous painting. French coat of arms is generally composed of three golden insignia similar to spearheads within a shied shape emblem decorated with twin angels in both sides. Types of motifs and white elements refer to religious iconography and Bourbon Flag, which was one of the symbols of dominance for the last Bourbon King. Likewise, the golden clips on the bag may refer to those angel paintings.

Influence of Gavroche on the
Last Moments of Butch Cassidy
and the Sundance Kid
Movie (1969)

It remains unknown whether the boy's bag was a school satchel or cartridge pouch. In a skeptical perspective, both assumptions could be accepted as true, however the key message of the character stands for denoting the crucial role the children played in the momentum of revolutions. Delacroix’s character fires the act of rebellion in the romantic painting. He encourages rioters for uniting under the France's flag and follow Lady Liberty to reach the democracy and better social positions. As well as Victor Hugo was influenced by Delacroix’s fictional character, the artist himself was inspired by a child hero, who had served in French Revolutionary Army. Joseph Agricol Viala was a real hero who had lived between 22 September 1780 and 6 July 1793, and lost his life in his 12 because of a conflict occurred between two forces due to that the revolutionaries try to pass the Durance River, where lies on the south of France. Besides the recent history of France, Liberty Leading the People includes antique motifs and national emblems referring to both Ancient Rome and Ancient Greece.

The Falling Soldier by
Robert Capa (1936)

While the 1969 movie, The Last Moments of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, includes a scene inspired by the heroic pose of Gavroche character by Delacroix, Robert Capa’s The Falling Soldier work can be pointed out as an example of inspiring spirit of young rioter in every art class including photography. Liberty Leading the People was a major milestone in the changing world of visual arts. In late 17^th and early 18^th Centuries, painters respect to the Academy of Fine Arts that rely on Classicism, which is an approach of depicting objects or people with idealized beauty in art. Classicism was a result of the Age of Enlightenment, which had started with Renaissance and lasted to 1789, the First French Revolution date. Likewise, the French Revolutions made an end of the Age of Enlightenment and caused the Romantic Era rise in all art genres.

The Wearied Figure in Liberty Leading the People

Liberty Leading the People
Detail of Wearied Figure

Liberty Leading the People presents a young figure on his knees. The wearied young rioter dressed in french national flag colour, is a symbol of poor people in France among sociocultural diversity. The figure painted in pastel colors, contrasts with the border figures eclipsed with dark colors, and his simple clothes as a mark of poor economic standing, separates him form the wealth classes. The clothing of the wounded man in discernible outfits tells that he is one of the foreign workers of Paris. The facial features and smooth skin of young character resembles the iconic image of Lady Liberty regardless her drapery cloth. The young figure located at the bottom side of pyramidal system, is not lifeless yet, like his fallen comrades or other fallen loyal soldiers in national guard uniforms, which were the cuirassier and swiss guard painted with army symbols. In the middle of madness, chaos and destruction, his head towards the Lady Liberty, symbolizes hope for everyday people of France. As shining star of the painting, La Marianne’s yellow drapery fabric echoes the yellow scarf on the neck of young figure, while his blue top reminding a jean jacket is reference for the blue tone in French flag with other blue elements in the romantic painting. The white shirt and red waistcoath are the other elements that Delacroix utilized to reflect the French national flag over the figures in the painting, as a color specialist. Considering the lowering faces and other facial details of the angry people in a real war scene, the wounded man seems at his young ages.

The Creation of Adam
by Michelangelo (1512)

There exists an eye contact between Lady Liberty and the figure that possibly symbolizes the young generation of French nation, with Gavroche and the infantry boy in the painting, however there is no any significant clue about his age besides the young looking face. In social context, the young rioter must be a member of working class from a foreign culture outside of city, who had found himself a place in Paris. Whether he has french citizenship or not, the young worker has attended the rebellion to honor France with the idea of liberty and gain better opportunities due to fear of future.

In an aerial perspective, his presence is as significant as La Marianne and Gavroche, in contrast with busy scene that covered with plume of smoke around the main characters. While, the young worker wounded next to La Marianne contributes to the different types of diversity based on main figures in the romantic painting, the scene that they look at each other reminds The Creation of Adam by Michelangelo in Sistine Chapel. The artist depicts one of the watershed moments in July Revolution that leads bad mood rising from the view of observers via spiritualism and the symbolic star of the painting, Lady Liberty and her characteristics of Renaissance.

Eugène Delacroix Self Portrait in Liberty Leading the People

Liberty Leading the People
Detail of Eugène Delacroix's
Self-Portrait

Liberty Leading the People reveals a self portrait of Eugène Delacroix with a theatrical pose, next to the factory worker in open collared white shirt. The rich man wearing tailored greatcoat and black hat, evokes a statesman with his bowtie. His gothic image and luxury clothes, separates rich and poor and creates a radical diversity among other men and women. At first glance, the man in top hat appears to be a foreman, student or possibly an artisan. Yet, the black scarf around his neck affirms that he is the painter himself. Eugène Delacroix had an illness that caused trouble to him for whole life. In early ages, the artist suffered a bout of tuberculous laryngitis and constantly concerned for his health. To prevent a recurrence of the disease, he wore a knotted scarf tied around his neck. The famous French writer Alexandre Dumas also denied that the romantic artists had participated the public events, in a lecture in 1864. Delacroix placed himself at the front and center in the famous paint. The man is depicted in basic colours upon grey tone along with mustard yellow trouser and brown flannel belt. While art analysis agree that the man in the painting is Delacroix, there is no conclusive evidence as to whether the famous painter was directly involved in the conflict.

Liberty Leading the People
Detail of Knotted Scarf

Eugène Delacroix has finished Liberty Leading the People in Autumn 1830 between October and December. His own words in a letter sent to his brother Charles-Henri Delacroix in 18 October, 1830, shows repentant feelings of the artist for not being able to directly participate the conflicts in the street. Delacroix wrote, “My bad mood is vanishing thanks to hard work. I've embarked on a modern subject - a barricade. And if I haven't fought for my country at least I'll paint for her”. The french phrase “J'ai entrepris un sujet moderne, une barricade, et si je n’ai pas vaincu pour la patrie, au moins peindrai-je pour elle” as written in original letter, is stated in a paper by Hélene Toussaint from the Department of Paintings in Louvre Museum.

Portrait of Charles-Henri Delacroix
by Eugène Delacroix (1800-1845)

The man depicted with firearm, stubbly beard and long fuzzy hair under his high hat, points out his social status achieved among french citizens. When his ecstatic pose compared to the simplicity of others, realized with the elements like a sabre and simple hats, the man’s bourgeoisie looking stands out among the proletariat. Delacroix has a good reputation among noblesse and was on good terms with aristocracy, thanks to his fame earned in mid 20s, as one of the leaders of French Romantic Movement. Eugène Delacroix had close friendships with the dynastic family members of Ancien Régime, such as Duchesse de Berry, Orléans Family and guillotined King Louis XVI, the big brother of toppled King Charles X. It’s known that, Charles X had purchased his classics, such as orientalist painting The Massacre at Chios. The Battle of Nancy and the Death of Charles the Bold was also one of his historical paintings that the overthroned king has had before the July Revolution of 1830. Portrait of Eugène Delacroix is depicted very close to the main character Lady Liberty.

Portrait of Duchess of Berry
by Sir Thomas Lawrence
(1825)

The passion of the artist for more democratic nation and the right of liberty, must be examined separately from ideologies, however he was not a progressive liberal. Although he has turned his back on French monarchs and patriarchy by supporting the democratic ideal of Revolutions, the main goal that brought him together with proletarian and second class citizens, was the aspiration for painting freedom from want, besides a wish for modern democracy and new France. Delacroix’s brushstrokes were not improvisational or a result of an instinctive act. Whether he couldn’t find a fighting spirit or not, he worked on the subject with new sketches and drawings overlapping, likewise all great artists have done. There are many sources of inspiration that underpin those sketches and Delacroix’s visual artstyle. Eugène Delacroix has had a very decent art education. The painter was the youngest child of a well-to-do family.

The Battle of Nancy and
the Death of Charles the Bold
by Eugène Delacroix (1831)

His father Charles-François Delacroix served the Napoleonic Empire as foreign minister, while his mother Victoire Oeben was descended from a patrician family. He has had basic education in Lycée Imperial of Paris just before receiving an invitation from the art studio of Pierre Guérin at the age of 17 in 1815. Guérin was the last winner of Grand Prix de Rome (Rome Prize), a French scholarship for painters and sculptors, established in 17th Century by Louis XIV of France, known as the Sun King. In Guérin’s parisian studio, he met Théodore Géricault, dedicated as the most famous painter of French Romanticism with Delacroix. He helped Géricault as an assistant for the commission for Cathedral of Nantes, and painted the “Virgin of the Sacred Heart”. The Prix de Rome was an essential indicator for the prestigious artists of the time, who obeyed the rules of the Academy of Fine Arts, called disegno.

The Raft of the Medusa
by Théodore Géricault (1819)

The young artist has been attracting attention with his talent in classics. While, visual artists of the period generally worked on the mastery of drawing and classics, it was important to how to gain recognition for Delacroix. As one of the Louvre paintings, The Raft of the Medusa by Théodore Géricault and his fellowship, was a stepping stone for the young artist to avoid himself of exact drawing. Thanks to the young painter's advanced skill and the vision of his masters, he received an invitation from the School of Fine Arts (École des Beaux-Arts) in 1816, and left Guérin’s Paris studio. Delacroix received another invitation from the family church of Orcement in 1819, thanks to “The Virgin of the Harvest” portrait.

The Death of Sardanapalus
by Eugène Delacroix
(1827-1844)

The examples of orientalist art in European painting, such as Scenes from the Massacres of Chios (1824) and The Death of Sardanapalus (1828), ensued the religious paintings of the romantic artist. Delacroix has never been a Bonapartist or a part of political movements, despite his father’s active duty in Napoleonic Period, when France is ruled by the directory. But, Liberty Leading the People has caused him to be referred to as a political artist today, in spite of that, he did not have a clear political opinion among art community besides desiring to create original paintings. In fact, Delacroix was looking down on the sans culottes and other lower class citizens, according to the Charles Baudelaire, one of the most famous romantic poets. The artist regards them as nobody at the first estate French Revolution of July, 1830. Considering his father’s official duty in the charge of royal family, Eugène Delacroix did not stand for republicanism but Bonapartism in terms of political awareness. He relied on the benevolent dictator and his friendship with the new King Louis-Philippe I is a proof of this. The artist also served the People King as a court painter, likewise another poussinist Charles Le Brun, who was the court painter to Louis XIV, and has been declared as the greatest French artist of all time.

Self-Portrait by
Peter Paul Rubens (1623)

In late 18th Century, neoclassical artists and the leading figure of French Neoclassicism Jacques-Louis David paintings have been accepted as a counter revolution to the Rococo Art that place aesthetic pleasure before the use of light and dark, called chiaroscuro. The term highly utilized by baroque artists was meaning to generate a crossing from light to dark for giving the impression of a 3D illusion on depth perception. When it comes to the 19th Century, Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres, the most succesful student of Jacques-Louis David, became a figure of transitional period between Neo Classical Art and Romantic Era Art. Ingres has been influenced by Nicolas Poussin paintings and derived the characteristics of Baroque Period. The group of painters that Ingres led, called as Poussinist, while the second group has been labelled as Rubesnists, inspired by Peter Paul Rubens paintings. Rubesnist painters gave weight to the use of vivid colors instead of baroque line and drawing methods. Although, there remains slight differences between two groups, they both composed a bond between the contemporary art styles of the day and recent past.

The Starry Night by
Vincent van Gogh (1889)

Liberty Leading the People is an artwork closer to a Rubenist painting due to its richly colored canvas and lack of dark color. Yet it carries some features of Baroque Period, such as pedestal shaped layout that reminds a triangle. The artist’s color palette shaped in compliance with liberty flag respect with the strong contrasts of blue, white and red colors and his obsession for the characters, makes romantic masterpiece a bridge between Neoclassicism and Romanticism. Its known that, old masters like Paolo Veronese regarding Late Renaissance and Peter Paul Rubens regarding Dutch Golden Age, have the biggest impacts on Delacroix’s painting style, together with Francisco Goya paintings. Eugène Delacroix artworks, especially Liberty Leading the People influenced some of later movements and successors too, such as the romantic realism of Gustave Courbet and the symbolism of Gustave Moreau.

Self-Portrait with Spectacles
by Francisco Goya (1801)

Both post impressionists and neo impressionists including pointillist painter Georges Seurat, also availed themselves of romantic work to create their disegno in art. The Starry Night by Vincent van Gogh and Les Grandes Baigneuses by Paul Cézanne are other post impressionists works that have been influenced by the distinct use of vivid colors in large and divided strokes. Delacroix regarded as the most representative painter of French romantic school, was expected to follow the motto meaning “Every painter paints himself” derived from 15th Century Italian concetto “ogni pittore dipinge se stesso”. The art slogan possibly invented in Early Renaissance, is embraced by greatest painters of all time. Raphael, Donatello, Botticelli, Masaccio, Giovanni Bellini, Michelangelo and Leonardo da Vinci are some of Renaissance painters that utilized famous motto in life.

The Arnolfini Portrait
Detail of Convex Mirror
and Jan van Eyck

Concerning Baroque Period, Rembrandt, Caravaggio, Gian Lorenzo Bernini, Johannes Vermeer, Guido Reni, Gentileschis as Artemisia Gentileschi and her father Orazio Gentileschi, are some of baroque painters that followed the famous motto for the purpose of immortalization. Among these baroque artists, Caravaggio’s aim was self realization due to his crimes and regrets, explained in David and Goliath paintings, especially last of them in Galleria Borghese of Rome, Italy. However, the flemish painter Jan van Eyck was one of the primes in the Northern Renaissance art by portraying himself and his assistant in the convex mirror of The Arnolfini Portrait, the enthusiasm of being a visual part of the paintings that reveal life of the people, has passed from generation to generation throughout all art periods and become a tradition, habit or conceit for popular artists.

Every Painter Paints Himself

Self-Portrait by
Francis Bacon (1973)

Liberty Leading the People painting and its creator Delacroix are the followers of the art motto. The famous motto put forward by the great Renaissance thinkers has existed in every period and in every kind of art. Prominent figures of modern abstract art, such as, Francis Bacon, Lucian Freud, Frank Auerbach and Michael Andrews, are the contemporary artists that followed the famous motto via expressionism and cubism. Along with visual artists, poetic art and literature include the variations of it for ages and generations. Most famous William Shakespeare plays, Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet, Macbeth, Merchant of Venice and A Midsummer Night's Dream, provides the examples of entertaining scenarios from a superficial perspective or when seen in a globe theatre. Yet, every types of abstract concept art elements that reflect the author's inner world, are hidden behind the text and poeticness. The art of rhetoric and poetica deal with those inner senses to reveal.

Portrait of Dante Alighieri
by Sandro Botticelli (1495)

The Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri, or commonly known as Commedia, has similar features that are largely incomprehensible at a first glance together with Dante’s Inferno and St. Augustine’s Confessions. “Every painter paints himself” should be interpreted as looking the world from the eyes of creator. The real artists portray their own visualizations, sometimes together with optical illusions, even in natural scenery paintings. Thought that, the great cause of existence, is hidden inside of the human body, reminds Immanuel Kant’s transcendental idealism, however the great thinkers of the Renaissance and some of painters like Leonardo and Michelangelo have approached the subject with a rather traditional concept. It is known that these two masters did surgical studies on human bodies to find the secret of life by violating the law. Renaissance philosophers and masters, believed that human body was a miniature of the cosmos or universe. According to them, the secrets of god’s beautiful creation of Adam and Eve, must be found inside of the human bodies accepted as unique microcosms.

Portrait of Michelangelo by
Daniele da Volterra (1545)

This primitive thought, which also brought the abstract painting to life, caused the copying nature paintings to have layers. This traditional art design embraced by true artists, turned into art concept in time and broaden the viewpoint of art scholars and literary critics for Western Art. Therefore, great art always must have been examined with its creator that avoided the exterior look of the outer world and focused on his visual memory. Actually, genuine art mottos or mystics like “ogni pittore dipinge se stesso” and “nemo me impune lacessit” originates Platon and Socrates philosophy. The one of the best known Aristoteles quotes, “know thyself” or commonly used version “know yourself” that mentioned in both Plato’s Apology for Socrates and Thales of Miletus, guide the artists to Ancient Greece and antiquity. According to Aristoteles “knowing yourself is the beginning of all wisdom” and an artist should have self knowledge in life as a precondition if he wish to paint himself. The Real Presences by George Steiner and Shakespeare's Images of Pregnancy by Elizabeth Sacks, are the contemporary sources that mention and discuss the creative touches with their visual reality on human communication and perception of art.

The Factory Worker in Liberty Leading the People

Liberty Leading the People presents a

Liberty Leading the People
Detail of Man in Working Apron

brightly colored man in working apron, who is a contemporary builder, as a person of low degrees for the old world. His face reviving the anger is lack of politeness, contrary to Lady Liberty reminding classical sculptures like statue of Aphrodite. As a temporary construction labor, the artists completed his figuration properly for the french culture. The figure depicted highly white pattern, carries a brown felt cap with white cockade and red ribbon. His blue and red handkerchief with the white stripes, separate him from the upper class including the man in black tuxedo suit next to him. He participated the life changing event of July Revolt and shares the emotional response with angry mob. The laborer holds a briquet, which is a french word meaning a type of saber packed by military classes in Napoleonic Wars during the First Republic.

Scene of July 1830 by
Léon Cogniet (1830)

His pistol covered by handkerchief, is one of the modern symbols in romantic image. The character is an ante among the other figures running around, when the richly colored canvas is examined from the left side. Extremely use of white paint on the figure is another allegory to match the character with Bourbon Dynasty and its white flag. Eugène Delacroix utilized blurry images of bayonets, flags and flaming torches to fill the background of secondary figures like this factory worker, while the magnificent Lady Liberty emerge herself ahead the canon smokes resembling a white aura imaging. The artists possibly brings another apologue forward to state the shifting balance of power from monarchs to people.

Liberty Leading the People Background Characters

Liberty Leading the People reveals that

Liberty Leading the People
Detail of Three Revolutionaries

some of the revolutionaries stood in the background of the picture plane. July Rebellion was the civil commotion that has been participated by the people from all walks of life. They are three fighters and different types of people, whose faces are in sight among other rioters. Their presence evokes the color of the French flag and social diversity. There seems tools and muskets are rising upon their head and shoulders. The foremost man is possibly a former infantry and one of the political prisoners released during the Fall of Bastille. He wears a white shirt and light taupe coat paired with the golden color of the hilt of his sword. The guy stands for the vanguard move of sans culottes in Three Glorious Days.

Liberty Leading the People
Detail of Revolutionist
under French Flag

There remains two more characters resembling the members of the military. The man on the left side with bonapartist hat is a high ranking soldier alike a lieutenant general or brigadier, while the haggard soldier on the right side is from middle military class due to their image of hats, uniforms and epaulets. The art historians state that the man with traditional bicorne could be a student from École Polytechnique in Paris due to his proper clothing. Those soft caps, also named as horned hat or two-cornered hat, were highly used among the art students of this higher education institution in France during Napoleonic Era. The triangle plane that reveals blue uniform, red shoulder straps and white shirt that echoes the primary colors of the painting upon French tricolour flag. Besides the mutineers from military reserves, a beetle browed man shows his face over the shoulders of factory worker and the Eugène Delacroix’s self portait. He has burdened a blunderbuss likewise the artists holds. A replica flag colored with lighter red close to orange over the heads, reflects the national emblem of France that Marianne unfurled.

Towers of Notre Dame Cathedral in Liberty Leading the People

Liberty Leading the People shows

Liberty Leading the People
Detail of Notre Dame Cathedral

the bell towers of Notre Dame Cathedral. The architectural monument of Paris, are in sight through white canon fog. The famous cathedral in Paris has been an art subject for many greatest painters of all time, such as Vincent van Gogh and Henri Matisse. The painting reveals a very small picture of French flag flapping on the tower of Notre Dame, stressing its distinct colors of red, white and blue. With that, the number of French tricolore flags in the romantic painting is three. At the bottom side of notre dame background, there is a group of grenadiers in military formation and depicted in details. By this image, Eugène Delacroix expresses that the conflicts had happened at the heart of paris close to Notre Dame. The use of elements and artist’s imaginative approach are absolute due to that the masterpiece is not a simple nature painting. Liberty Leading the People is full of allegory and reality at the same time.

Lady Liberty as the Inspirer of the Statue of Liberty, NYC

The Statue of Liberty by
Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi
and Gustave Eiffel (1886)

Liberty Leading the People was an inspiration source for the American Statue of Liberty in the Liberty Island of the New York City. Literally, its named Liberty Enlightening the World after its builder Gustave Eiffel, who dealt with the metal framework of the neoclassical sculpture. Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi was the designer of the Statue of Liberty, together with his friend Édouard René de Laboulaye. He utilized a flaming torch to give the monumental statue a more naive appearance, when compared to fixed bayonet that Lady Liberty holds in Eugène Delacroix’s painting. Originally it depicts the Roman Goddess of Libertas over the context of freedom and wisdom. Yet, Liberty Leading the People painting was a trigger to build monumental statue over its big impact all over the world.

Liberty Leading the People Influenced Covers of Albums and Books

Liberty Leading the People and

Viva la Vida by
Coldplay (2008)

Delacroix not only changed contemporary art movements during his lifetime. The artist also influenced the direction of all art movements that came after him including music and literary. The impacts of romantic painter were obsolete in the novels and poems of contemporary writers of the Romantic Era poetry. Théophile Gautier, Charles Baudelaire and Paul Armand Silvestre are some of those romantic writers. Besides romantic writing, there remains famous books by modern artists, covered by Delacroix’s famous painting. “The Age of Revolutions” by Eric Hobsbawm and “The Future of Freedom: Illiberal Democracy at Home and Abroad” by Fareed Zakaria, reveals fascinating books covers referencing the romantic work. In music industry, contemporary design of painting is highly utilized in both classical and alternative music. “Symphony No. 6, ‘After Delacroix’: III Allegro” by George Antheil and famous British rock band Coldplay’s Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends, are the examples of painter’s influence on music genres. Likewise, André Suarès say; “The whole of modern art issues from Delacroix”.

Delacroix’s Notes About Liberty Leading the People

Portrait of Charles de Verninac
by Eugène Delacroix (1825-1826)

Liberty Leading the People has been mentioned in some letter from the artist to his social circle. Along with Delacroix’s chronicle and the letter to his brother, its known that the artist had mentioned about his masterpiece to his nephew too. The French diplomat, Charles Étienne Raymond Victor de Verninac has been seeing the romantic artist as a big brother. Victor de Verninac has studied in the Lycée Louis-le-Grand, the famous high school in France. The young diplomat best known for his portrayal by the artist, died due to yellow fever in a diplomatic visit to Chile. Another famous name was the the second elected President of France, protagonist Adolphe Thiers that Delacroix mentioned about his modern painting subject, the Barricades. Louis Félix Guillemardet, close friend of the artists and son of french politician Ferdinand Guillemardet, was another historical figure that the artist share his thoughts about the masterpiece. Delacroix states in his letter to Louis Guillemardet and Monsieur J. B. Pierret, that he almost had finished his picture. Interestingly enough that, The Portrait of Ferdinand Guillemardet by Francisco Goya depicts the father of Félix, childhood friend to the Delacroix.

Movements and World Events Influenced by Liberty Leading the People

Photograps from
Gezi Park Protests
Barricade (2013)

Liberty Leading the People painting had always been utilized by protest groups. In June 2013, the World has witnessed a grassroots movement in Turkey. It was literally recorded as Gezi Park Protests and occupy Gezi hashtag has spread like wildfire over the World. Initially, peaceful rally has been started by a small group of environmentalist in order to protect the historical park against the prime minister of the time, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan who stated that he will demolish the park for building a mosque and artillery barracks. The raw deal of law enforcers got reaction of all society but islamic fundamentalists, who comprises the base group of AKP, Erdoğan’s political party. The peaceful protest started in İstabul’s Gezi Park, turned into a countrywide civil commotion between Erdoğan supporters backed up police forces and the rest of the ordinary people of Turkey. The protesters composed of every social stratification including retirees, blue collar workers, students and even Generation Z, were led mostly by the chattering classes including secularists, scholars and white collars.

Photograps from
Gezi Park Protests
Lady in Red (2013)

Beyond the cultural diversity of protesters, a couple of heroic pictures that indicates women strength came forward as the symbol of bravery against a totalitarian government, which is held responsible for human rights abuses. Lady in red was one of them, showing a young women in red dress like a monument, standing against polices in the middle of the ruin and crowd. An explanatory journalism on Gezi Events has been chosen as the best story for story telling competition among feature length films and digital documentaries, and won the 1st prize. World Press Photos awarded documentary, Witnessing Gezi on Agence Le Journal recorded by famous photojournalist Emin Özmen, is also including the visual inspiration of a revolution of modern ages, abutting an urban development plan. Press photographs regarding Gezi Protests, not only evokes the romantic painting , also reveals a more chaotic scene related to Delacroix’s Liberty Leading the People. Gezi Park events was an important milestone reached in political life of modern Turkey. It was the counterattack of accumulated anger at an oppressive and conservative government, however the journey has started as an environmental movement. The architectural project of Ottoman Barracks and mosque were not implemented. Although Gezi Events did not bring about the highlight reel for Turkey in terms of reconstruction of a trustworthy democracy now, the movement is still counted as one of the watershed examples in contemporary history of the Eurasian country.

Photograps from
Yellow Vest Protests
Detail of French People

Yellow Vests Protests is another grassroot movement that started on Saturday, November 17, 2018 in Paris. The motivation of the events fundamentally resembles the July Revolution of 1830. The criticism raised against rising fuel costs, rack rents and infelicity of french nation considering the cost of living comparison with the neighbouring countries of France, escalated the crisis. Although, the protests started against an over planned rise in diesel fuel taxes, initially it turned into a wide spread movement criticizing President Emmanuel Macron’s overall policies and his political space. In a restrictive point of view, protesters wearing yellow jackets have been defending the economic democracy, which is a philosophical movement that aims to make decision making circles of power reclaimed by people in political aspect in order to give community more active right to speak over the pricing policies over goods, petrol costs etc. Briefly, it means switching the political power from shareholders to stakeholders.

Portrait of Louis-Philippe I
by Franz Xaver Winterhalter
(1841)

The idea of being more determinant in political works and gaining political power over the socio economic status of society, reminds the fundamental motivation that serves as the driving force behind all French revolutions in French history. Although, the July Revolt of 1830 started against King Charles X and lasted Three Glorious Days, ended by another oppressive regime People King taking over the power, the yellow vests arguably succeed against Macron’s price escalation policies and led to improve living conditions in France. Their achievements have made a way for other yellow vest protests among nearby European countries, likewise the French Revolutions shaped the modern world history together with American Revolution and led fundamental changes in terms of modern politics and social equality, and fostered the movements such as nationalism, liberalism and the first wave feminism as a movement that aims equal rights for women. Making a comparison between old regime of early 19th Century France and the real politics of France being conducted by current french government, is not fair, however the political message of revolutionary movements have always led to new intellectual movements and kept inspiring the world over its realism and idealism. Marianne of Liberty Leading the People is one of those undying visual inspirations that preserved its spirit and utilized by people in the Yellow Vest Events even after two centuries.

Liberty Leading the People
Mural by Pascal Boyart
after Delacroix

The political mural, described by a local resident living in a Paris apartment close to protests, as marvelous and representative in an interview of Agence France-Press, one of the oldest and most prestigious international press news agencies together with Associated Press ve Reuters. AFP also stated that the artist Pascal Boyart’s interactive attitude by starting a treasure hunt game hidden in the fresco painting that reunites Yellow Vests Movement, July Revolution and virtual currencies through Liberty Leading the People. According to Pboy’s twitter post, a puzzle worth 0,26 btc has been hidden in the wall painting to celebrate 10th birthday of the genesis block, which is the first block of Bitcoin mined by developer Satoshi Nakamoto in 2009. The artist also tried to draw sponsors for his street art by sharing a public key that can be load in digital money.

Arc de Triomphe
Le Champs-Élysées Avenue

Independently from the fluctuation in crypto currency market and crypto currency prices, the value of the amount was around 1,000 USD in 2019. The artist, who is known for his interest in crypto currencies and blockchain technology, is also known for his works on non fungible tokens (NFTs), regarded as a new crypto currency or cryptographic assets. The mural painting presents protesters in yellow reflective vests. Those high visibility jackets were the symbolic outwear for the events that started motorcycle drivers blocking the highways and slowing the traffic. French law requires motorists to wear hi vis jackets or vests for safety reasons. High fuel taxes first triggered those people, and then the another segment of the society criticising the low purchasing power. The Paris protest coordinator Thierry Paul Valette defined gas taxes as a spark, because the President Macron was running business friendly politics as a former investment banker. When the protests spread nearby Paris, Le Champs Élysées Avenue where the Arc de Triomphe located, resembles a state of insurrection according to mayor of 8th arrondissement of Paris, Jeanne d'Hauteserre.

Liberty Leading the People
Detail of Eugène Delacroix's Signature

Arc de Triomphe, as an architectural monument commemorating the people lost during the Napoleonic Wars and French Revolutions, was covered by yellow vests even including french students and paramedics from every social strata and political opinion no matter liberal and conservative. People considering the worsening living conditions on daily basis and demanding real clear politics were mixed with some protesters that caused violent actions by targeting shops and cars in Avenue des Champs-Élysées, Paris. Although Boyart’s large scale artwork was an innovative aproache uniting the history and today, it includes Lady Liberty’s less secularists definition as an allegorical figure. The liberty cap was painted more vivid red color and completed by the claret red belt and burgundy color in french flag. The street artist described La Marianne in softer details reminding academic art that Eugène Delacroix avoided, such as missing arm pit hairs, pigmentation based on skin spots and in a white lace brassiere. Lady Liberty in the poignant tone wall painting, has been portrayed with long straight hair and no curls like a present day poster girl, in contrast with original La Marianne, who orients antique Greek and Roman with her oriental details and ragged clothes. Rest of the mural is in compliance with modern day Lady Liberty.

Mona Lisa by
Leonardo da Vinci (1503-1507)

The man standing on her left, whom dedicated to be Eugène Delacroix’s self portrait, wearing long trousers and holding a blunderbuss. On the other hand, Gavroche adaptation is not in his school's uniform but carrying a brown satchel without any meaningful emblem of a royal house or royal dynasty. Along with white toga that La Marianne wore, no damask or silk fabric are significant in the mural. Without considering the potential struggles due to painting surface, Boyart’s work is an amazing adoption of the historical painting. While all characters are depicted under the flag of the French Revolution that shows their homage, the artist has put his signature on the wood pieces, likewise Delacroix has done on the down side of Lady Liberty on the barricades. Three figures wearing yellow high visibility vests come to the fore, while the young man on the ground refers to the original painting with Lady Liberty, who carries an old musket with fixed bayonet. While some of the activists wore familiar face masks from the Covid-19 pandemic period, their comrades were seen wearing gas masks as secondary characters besides Lady Liberty.

Details like roman toga and straight nose identifying the Roman posture of La Marianne and the shades of red pattern utilized in several segments of Boyart’s graffiti art, originates Delacroix’s masterpiece as one of the most famous paintings in the Louvre with Mona Lisa, while safety glasses, biker apparels due to hi vis vests and black berets, refer to the additions of french artist, who blends two different art styles and patriotic acts in art world. The people, who defined themselves as Gilets Jaunes in french, worked for financial and social justice, and their effort inspired nearby countries in Europe. Not only Boyart’s mural in Paris, but photography and digital arts including digital drawing and photoshop backgrounds, gathered Yellow Vest Movement and Liberty Leading the People many times.

Liberty Leading the People Facts

Greece on the Ruins of Missolonghi
by Eugène Delacroix (1826)

Liberty Leading the People painting has always been a sensational material besides its natural value for the art world. The romantic painting is his most famous work with Greece on the Ruins of Missolonghi and The Massacre at Chios. In 1999, the large canvas has been transported from Paris to Tokyo via Bahrain with a Boeing 747, in vertical position due to its large size 2,6 metres x 3,25 metres. It’s used an anti vibration device and metal container providing isothermal protection. On a exhibiton of Louvre-Lens Museum in 2013, the famous painting has been vandalized by a protester. The 28 year old woman sneak the exhibition with a black marker case and typed “AE911” on the large oil canvas to emphasize the conspiracy theory of September 11, which is a black day for the people in United States, especially the places attacked like New York City and Washington, D.C. Due to its legacy and, influential and dramatic features, Eugène Delacroix’s Liberty Leading the People is one of the most important paintings of all time, in Louvre Collection. The Louvre acquired romantic work in 1874 from the Luxembourg Museum, just nine years after Eugène Delacroix died. Together with The Raft of the Medusa, The Wedding Feast at Cana and Mona Lisa, Liberty Leading the People is one of the most famous paintings in Louvre Museum, France.