Page "Orientalism" Paragraph 24

Eugène Delacroix's first great success, The Massacre at Chios ( 1824 ) was painted before he visited the Greece or the East, and followed his friend Théodore Géricault's The Raft of the Medusa in showing a recent incident in distant parts that had aroused public opinion.

Greece was still fighting for independence from the Ottomans, and was effectively as exotic as the more Near Eastern parts of the empire.

Delacroix followed up with Greece on the Ruins of Missolonghi ( 1827 ), commemorating a siege of the previous year, and the Death of Sardanapalus, inspired by Lord Byron, which although set in antiquity has been credited with beginning the mixture of sex, violence, lassitude and exoticism which runs through much French Orientalist painting.

In 1832 Delacroix finally visited what is now Algeria, recently conquered by the French, and Morocco, as part of a diplomatic mission to the Sultan of Morocco.

He was greatly struck by what he saw, comparing the North African way of life to that of the Ancient Romans, and continued to paint subjects from his trip on his return to France.

Like many later Orientalist painters, he was frustrated by the difficulty of sketching subjects including women, and many of his scenes featured Jews or warriors on horses.

However he was apparently able to get into the women's ' quarters or harem of a house to sketch what became The Women of Algiers ; few later harem scenes had this claim to authenticity.