Eugène Delacroix (1798-1863) - Portrait de Mirabeau
10
days
02
hours
58
minutes
12
seconds
Starting bid
€ 1
Reserve price not met
Expert
Selected by Leo Setz
Over 30 years’ experience as art dealer, appraiser and restorer.
Estimate € 8,000 - € 10,000
No bids placed
Catawiki Buyer Protection
Your payment’s safe with us until you receive your object.View details
Trustpilot 4.4 | 135696 reviews
Rated Excellent on Trustpilot.
Portrait de Mirabeau, a nineteenth-century pencil drawing by Eugène Delacroix from France, signed and measuring 14 × 10 cm.
AI-assisted summary
Description from the seller
Rare portrait by Eugène DELACROIX (1798-1863) depicting MIRABEAU* in profile.
*Honoré Gabriel Riqueti, “comte” de Mirabeau, more commonly known as MIRABEAU, born March 9, 1749 in the château de Bignon-Mirabeau, in Loiret, and died April 2, 1791 in Paris, was a French writer, diplomat, journalist and politician, a key figure of the French Revolution and one of its founding fathers. Nicknamed “the Hercules of Liberty,” “the Orator of the People” and “the Torch of Provence,” he remains the first symbol of parliamentary eloquence in France.
The work bears the red seal "E.D" from Delacroix’s posthumous sale of February 21, 1864; it was part of lot 322 ("Mirabeau responding to the Marquis de Dreux-Brézé", drawings and sketches, lot of 14 sheets).
This lot of drawings is referenced in the work "L’œuvre complet de Eugène DELACROIX" by Alfred ROBAULT, published in 1885, under number 1562 "Mirabeau et Dreux-Brézé - 1831".
Our drawing is a study of Mirabeau’s head for the painting by DELACROIX "Mirabeau devant Dreux-Brézé", created in 1831, currently in the collections of the Glyptoteket Ny Carlsberg Museum in Copenhagen, Denmark.
DELACROIX painted several oil sketches of this subject (one of which is housed at the Musée Delacroix in Paris) as well as several dozen preparatory drawings (see comparative photos).
On June 23, 1789, at Versailles, Henri-Évrard de DREUX-BRÉZÉ was sent by King Louis XVI to request the deputies, convened since May for the Estates-General, to disperse. A number of deputies protested and refused to obey, including MIRABEAU who allegedly cried out: “Go tell those who sent you that we are here by the will of the people and that we will be torn away from here only by the power of the bayonets.”
A unique opportunity to acquire a drawing representing a major figure of the French Revolution by DELACROIX, one of the greatest French painters in art history!
Pencil on tracing paper backed onto paper (support commonly used by DELACROIX)
Drawn size: 14.5 × 10.2 cm, mounted on a sheet measuring 18.8 × 13 cm with a cartouche bearing the painter’s name (sold without frame for the moment)
Very good overall condition
Seal "E.D" bottom left (listed in Lugt, no. L.838a)
Photos taken under natural light
AUTHENTICITY GUARANTEED - Sale with invoice from our gallery
*** We are a gallery specializing in 19th and 20th century paintings and drawings, we prepare the painter Ferdinand GUELDRY’s catalogue raisonné and we work with the world's leading auction houses (Sotheby’s, Doyle, Koller...) to authenticate his works.
Secure worldwide shipping
Rare portrait by Eugène DELACROIX (1798-1863) depicting MIRABEAU* in profile.
*Honoré Gabriel Riqueti, “comte” de Mirabeau, more commonly known as MIRABEAU, born March 9, 1749 in the château de Bignon-Mirabeau, in Loiret, and died April 2, 1791 in Paris, was a French writer, diplomat, journalist and politician, a key figure of the French Revolution and one of its founding fathers. Nicknamed “the Hercules of Liberty,” “the Orator of the People” and “the Torch of Provence,” he remains the first symbol of parliamentary eloquence in France.
The work bears the red seal "E.D" from Delacroix’s posthumous sale of February 21, 1864; it was part of lot 322 ("Mirabeau responding to the Marquis de Dreux-Brézé", drawings and sketches, lot of 14 sheets).
This lot of drawings is referenced in the work "L’œuvre complet de Eugène DELACROIX" by Alfred ROBAULT, published in 1885, under number 1562 "Mirabeau et Dreux-Brézé - 1831".
Our drawing is a study of Mirabeau’s head for the painting by DELACROIX "Mirabeau devant Dreux-Brézé", created in 1831, currently in the collections of the Glyptoteket Ny Carlsberg Museum in Copenhagen, Denmark.
DELACROIX painted several oil sketches of this subject (one of which is housed at the Musée Delacroix in Paris) as well as several dozen preparatory drawings (see comparative photos).
On June 23, 1789, at Versailles, Henri-Évrard de DREUX-BRÉZÉ was sent by King Louis XVI to request the deputies, convened since May for the Estates-General, to disperse. A number of deputies protested and refused to obey, including MIRABEAU who allegedly cried out: “Go tell those who sent you that we are here by the will of the people and that we will be torn away from here only by the power of the bayonets.”
A unique opportunity to acquire a drawing representing a major figure of the French Revolution by DELACROIX, one of the greatest French painters in art history!
Pencil on tracing paper backed onto paper (support commonly used by DELACROIX)
Drawn size: 14.5 × 10.2 cm, mounted on a sheet measuring 18.8 × 13 cm with a cartouche bearing the painter’s name (sold without frame for the moment)
Very good overall condition
Seal "E.D" bottom left (listed in Lugt, no. L.838a)
Photos taken under natural light
AUTHENTICITY GUARANTEED - Sale with invoice from our gallery
*** We are a gallery specializing in 19th and 20th century paintings and drawings, we prepare the painter Ferdinand GUELDRY’s catalogue raisonné and we work with the world's leading auction houses (Sotheby’s, Doyle, Koller...) to authenticate his works.
Secure worldwide shipping
Details
Artist
Eugène Delacroix (1798-1863)
Title of artwork
Portrait de Mirabeau
Technique
Pencil drawing
Signature
Signed
Country of origin
France
Condition
Good condition
Height
14 cm
Width
10 cm
Depiction/theme
Portrait
Style
Classical
Period
19th century
Sold by
