(In the Wallace Collection)
Delacroix himself considered this picture, which was painted in 1826,
to be his masterpiece. Exhibited first at the Salon of 1827, when "The
Death of Sardanapalus" caused a veritable torrent of abuse to be
showered upon the artist, it failed to attract the favourable attention
which its nobly balanced design, brilliant colour, and intensely
dramatic feeling would otherwise surely have commanded, and which was
given to it in the following year by the London public. "Marino
Faliero" is unquestionably the finest example of Delacroix's art in
England.
[Illustration: PLATE VII.--THE EXECUTION OF THE DOGE MARINO FALIERO]
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Earlier in date than the Library of the Senate is the large mural
painting in wax colours of the "Pieta" in the Church of St.
Denis-du-Saint-Sacrement. It bears the date 1843, and is, apart from
the passionate intensity of movement and expression, and its linear
rhythm, interesting as an instance of the almost incredible rapidity
with which Delacroix proceeded upon the actual execution of his
paintings, once the scheme had taken definite shape in his mind.
According to Moreau, who had this information from the artist himself,
the whole painting of about 15 ft. by 11 ft. was finished in seventeen
days, each day's progress being marked by Delacroix on the wall.
The decoration of the two Libraries was scarcely finished when two new
commissions of equal importance gave him further opportunity for the
triumphant display of his decorative genius. A few sketches and
engravings are unfortunately all that is left to us of the circular
centre, the eight shaped oblong panels and the eleven lunettes which
constituted the pictorial decoration of the Salon de la Paix at the old
Hotel de Ville, since the building was destroyed by fire in May 1871 in
the days of the Commune. Delacroix worked on these designs from 1849
to 1853, and was only paid L1200 for the whole series.
If the labour and thought expended upon the Salon de la Paix were
destined to lead to such short-lived results, the magnificent
centrepiece of the ceiling in the Salon d'Apollon can be seen to-day in
its unimpaired freshness--the most striking testimony to its creator's
genius. The decoration of this gallery was entrusted to Le Brun as far
back as 1661; and it was Louis XIV.'s favourite painter who conceived
the idea of paying homage to his master, the "Roi Soleil," by depicting
"The Triumph of Apollo" in the centre panel, with appropriate subjects
in the other ten compartments. But his work was interrupted, when he
was called upon to supervise the decoration of Versailles, before he
had even sketched out the design for "The Triumph of Apollo." The ten
minor compartments remained neglected for over a century, and were
allowed to get into a deplorable condition, until the restoration was
taken in hand in 1848, the painting of the great centre being at the
same time entrusted to Delacroix. Apart from the fact that Apollo was
to be the hero of the design, Delacroix had an entirely free hand, and
chose to depict the god vanquishing the Python, with Diana, Mercury,
Minerva, Hercules, Vulcan, Boreas, Zephyrus, Victory, Iris, and Nymphs
as subsidiary figures. Although the design offends against the
fundamental rule of all ceiling decorations, that there should be no
"above" and "below," and that the composition should be devised so as
to be equally intelligible from every point of view, one cannot but
admire the noble co- and subordination of the different groups and
figures, the lucid clearness of the pictorial statement of an
essentially intellectual conception, the astonishing colour-magic, and,
above all, the manner in which the master has adapted his own work to
the somewhat gaudy and over-decorated surroundings. "Delacroix," says
Robaut in his "Catalogue Raisonne," "has here shown himself as great in
execution as in invention, and the Apollo ceiling is one of the most
perfect works of art that reflect glory upon all the centuries"--a
judgment which has been endorsed by two generations of artists and
critics. The ceiling, for which the master was paid the sum of L960,
was finished in 1849. About two hundred sketches and drawings for
details of the composition figured in the sale held after Delacroix's
death.
We have seen that from the time when Delacroix began his work for the
Salon du Roi in 1833 until the completion of the Salon de la Paix in
1853, he had no sooner brought any of his monumental decorations to a
successful conclusion when some other decorative work was entrusted to
him. And so again, in 1853, when he had just finished the Hotel de
Ville series, he was made to proceed immediately upon that great fresco
decoration of the Chapel of the Saints-Anges at St. Sulpice, which,
completed in 1861, was his last work of real importance, and is in many
respects the crowning achievement of his great career. Here, for once,
Delacroix found himself able to work under conditions similar to those
under which the Florentine masters of the quattrocento wrought their
marvellous frescoes. Here was no complete scheme of ornate
architectural details, no sumptuous framework in which spaces had been
left for the addition of painted panels that had to be treated in a
more or less florid manner to fit into their rich surroundings. Here
everything was left to the painter's free will, checked only by the
consideration of the fitness of the subjects for the site and by the
architectural proportions of the little chapel. And it is not too much
to say that Delacroix solved the problem in more masterly fashion than
any painter between the glorious days of the Italian Renaissance and
the advent of Puvis de Chavannes, the greatest decorator of modern
times.
Like all true fresco decoration, the two large paintings of "Jacob
wrestling with the Angel" and "Heliodorus driven from the Temple" do
not attempt to give the illusion of plastic life, or of an opening cut
through the wall, but duly accentuate the flatness of the surface. The
scale of colour adopted for this admirable decoration aims, without the
least sense of monotony or dulness, at the exquisiteness of the greens
and greys of a fine panel of faded Flemish tapestry, and has nothing in
common with the rich, glowing palette which Delacroix had inherited
from Rubens and the Venetian colourists. The tapestry-like effect is
particularly noticeable in the treatment of the trees which are so
important a feature in the composition of "Jacob wrestling with the
Angel," the figures being comparatively small in scale, though by no
means subordinate to the landscape. Nothing could be more impressive
than the contrast of the terrific muscular exertion of Jacob and the
easy grace with which it is made ineffective by his invincible
supernatural opponent. The group is one of the noblest creations of
modern art--worthy of the brush of a Pollaiuolo or a Signorelli.
In the "Heliodorus" the accidents of Nature's architecture are replaced
by the equally imposing but deliberate and formal lines of the
architecture created by human builders. The general disposition of the
design is not unlike that of the earlier "Justice of Trajan"; but there
is this significant difference between the earlier work and the St.
Sulpice fresco, that the very first glance reveals the essentially
human element in the first, and the irresistible force of the
supernatural in the second. The tempestuous, sweeping onrush of the
two flying angels contrasted with the calm consciousness of
all-conquering strength expressed not only in the mounted heavenly
messenger but in the very action of his noble horse--the horses in
Delacroix's paintings invariably reflect the mood of the drama or
tragedy that forms the subject of the picture--are a pictorial
conception of unsurpassed grandeur. The only unsatisfactory part of
the St. Sulpice decoration is the ceiling, where St. Michael is
depicted overthrowing the Demon. Probably the execution of this oval
composition was almost entirely the work of assistants, as Delacroix's
failing health, aggravated by lead poisoning caused by the extensive
use of white of lead paint in his large decorations, would not have
allowed him to work under such fatiguing conditions as are unavoidable
in painting a ceiling _in situ_.
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