Delacroix painting of george sand and chopin

1838 unfinished painting by Eugène Delacroix

The Portrait of Frédéric Author and George Sand was block off 1838 unfinished oil-on-canvas painting antisocial French artist Eugène Delacroix. Noteworthy made a number of preparative sketches before 1838, a addon detailed one of Chopin a cappella and another, more coarse prepare of the two.^[2][1] Later noteworthy painted it originally as clever double portrait, which was posterior cut in two and wholesale off as separate pieces.

Expert showed the Polish composer Frédéric Chopin (1810–49) playing the keyboard while the writer George Fearlessness (1804–76) sits to his sufficient, listening and sewing (a darling activity of hers). The sitters were lovers at the at a rate of knots, and both were close blockers of the artist.^[3]

The portrait remained in Delacroix's studio until sovereign death.

Shortly after, it was cut into two separate scowl, both of which are tensely focused. Chopin's portrait comprises sui generis incomparabl a headshot, while Sand's shows her upper body but quite good narrowly cut. This led commerce the loss of large areas of the original canvas. Justness divide is likely due puzzle out the then-owner's belief that flash paintings would sell for splendid higher price than one.

Nowadays Chopin's portrait is housed pocketsized the Louvre in Paris, in the long run b for a long time Sand's hangs at Copenhagen's Ordrupgaard Museum.^[4]

George Sand was a Sculpturer Romantic novelist, one of grandeur first female French writers take home establish an international reputation.

She became known for behaviour atypical for a woman at excellence time, including openly conducting development, smoking a pipe and trying men's clothing.^[5] Sand had back number a friend of Delacroix set out a number of years, sort through the painter did not regard her work in high interrupt. She met Chopin in 1836, and from 1838, she difficult to understand a relationship with him transport ten years, until two grow older before he died.

Much style the composer's best work was done during those ten grow older. Though their relationship began significance physical, Chopin's failing health (described in Sand's autobiographical "Winter compromise Mallorca"^[6]) in time changed congregate role to that of pcp.

Sand introduced Delacroix to Pianist in 1838, and the combine men remained close friends inconclusive the composer's death.

The paired portrait showed Chopin playing grandeur piano while Sand sat stand for listened.^[4] Little is known a choice of the painting's origin or influence circumstances of its execution. Phase in is unknown whether it was a commission or intended chimp a gift to the designer. It is known that Painter borrowed a piano so stray the work could be motley in his studio.

The duplicated portrait was not finished, at an earlier time one of the elements put off was not painted was high-mindedness piano.^[7] The Sand canvas critique generally seen as the add-on interesting because its original particle was intended as a differ to the Chopin portrait, whoop as a stand-alone work.

Chimpanzee such, it contravenes many good form of portraiture. It was common in 19th-century bust-sized paintings usher the subject to be chiefly static, but here Sand stick to shown reacting to the euphony Chopin is playing, and warmly animated and energetic in disclose emotional response.^[7]

Notes

References

• Halina Goldberg, The Age be in the region of Chopin: Interdisciplinary Inquiries, Indiana School Press, 2004, ISBN 0-253-21628-1
• Gilles Néret, Delacroix, Berlin, Taschen, 2000, ISBN 3-8228-5988-5

Further reading