Mathurin Régnier

Eugène Delacroix

ca. 1846 · Watercolor and gouache over traces of graphite on wove paper · Drawings and Prints

Delacroix’s interest in literature drew him to projects of illustration. He produced this imaginary portrait of the satirical late sixteenth–early seventeenth-century poet Mathurin Régnier for "The French Plutarch: Lives of Illustrious Men and Women of France," published in six volumes from 1844 to 1847. He also designed portraits of Jean Froissart, François Rabelais, and John Calvin for the same edition. The choice of watercolor is surprising for a work intended to be reproduced in black and white, but the by-product is this vivid demonstration of the artist’s skills as a colorist.

Artist

Eugène Delacroix

Date

ca. 1846

Medium

Watercolor and gouache over traces of graphite on wove paper

Department

Drawings and Prints

Credit line

Rogers Fund, 1969