Les Baigneuses (1854)

Delacroix, Eugène (1798-1863)

Les Baigneuses (Bathers)
1854
Oil on canvas, 93.3 x 79.4 cm
Wadsworth AtheneumHartford

At the height of his career, Eugène Delacroix was challenged by a patron in 1854 to paint a scene of female bathers in a forest glade. The requirements were specific regarding the number of bathers and their activities. In addition, the figures were to be depicted modestly with the women covered by drapery. Working at his country house for inspiration, Delacroix created this voluptuous, yet chaste, composition, combining a lifetime of artistic influences in this late painting. The whole scene exudes a warm sensuality typical of the French Rococo, whereas the rich colors and classical poses of the two women in the foreground are reminiscent of the Venetian Renaissance. Delacroix rarely depicted bathing women, but the contemporaneous success of Gustave Courbet’s “The Bathers”, a work that he criticized for its coarse realism, might have ignited his interest in depicting a similar subject. With its evocation of Arcadian bliss, Delacroix’s “Bathers” heralds a deeply Romantic sentiment. (WA)