The paintings of Eugene Delacroix: a critical catalogue Series

The Paintings of Eugene Delacroix: v.5 & 6

Published 1 September 1981

This two-volume set completes Lee Johnson's "Catalogue Raisonne" of Delacroix, of which volumes three and four were awarded the Mitchell Prize for the History of Art in November 1987. These final volumes aim to consider all Delacroix's works of art for public places relating them to the preparatory drawings and oil sketches. Besides discussing the preliminary studies and illustrating some that have not previously been published, the catalogue places each scheme in the context of the building or refurbishment project which gave rise to the commission. It also pays attention to questions of iconography and the thematic development of each programme and to later reports on condition and restoration. The views of critics and historians are cited and for works with more complex histories, the author has compiled a separate chronology, quoting the known documentary evidence and discussing the programme, execution, sources (both literary and visual) and critical reception in an interpretive introductory section. As with previous volumes, the finished works are reproduced in one volume, while the preparatory sketches fall within the catalogue text in the other.