About this artwork
Delacroix painted The Abduction of Rebecca in 1846, based on a scene from Walter Scott's novel Ivanhoe. He was 48 years old and at the height of his career, producing the large, dramatic canvases that made him the leader of the Romantic school in France. Scott's novels were a favorite source for Delacroix: he painted scenes from The Bride of Lammermoor, The Pirate, and Quentin Durward, and he returned to Ivanhoe several times.
The painting shows the moment when Rebecca, the Jewish heroine of the novel, is carried off by a party of armed men. She lies unconscious in the arms of two figures at the center of the composition, her white robe and pale skin bright against the dark armor and horses around her. A group of soldiers on horseback fills the right side of the canvas, their lances and banners cutting upward into a stormy sky. At the left, a castle burns on a hilltop, its smoke merging with the clouds.
Delacroix first painted this subject in 1846 for the Luxembourg Palace in Paris. The Met's version is a second, smaller version that he painted the same year, possibly for a private collector. The composition is essentially the same as the larger version, now in the Louvre, but the handling is freer and more direct. The paint is applied in rapid, energetic strokes, with the figures built in warm flesh tones and the armor in dark metallic grays.
Delacroix was the most controversial painter in France in the 1830s and 1840s. His Massacre at Chios (1824) and Liberty Leading the People (1830) had made his reputation as the painter of violence, passion, and political upheaval. His critics, led by the classicist Ingres, accused him of painting with a broom. His defenders, including the critic Theophile Gautier, argued that his energy and color were the future of French painting. By 1846, the argument was largely settled. Delacroix had been commissioned to paint murals in the Palais Bourbon and the Louvre, and he was elected to the Institut de France in 1857.
Oil on canvas, 100 by 81 centimeters. Delacroix painted with a loaded brush, building the forms in thick, overlapping strokes. The white of Rebecca's robe is painted in dense, opaque lead white, which gives it a physical presence against the darker tones. The burning castle at the upper left is painted in thin, translucent reds and oranges, applied in rapid strokes that dissolve into the sky.
The vertical format and dramatic palette make this print work well in a living room, dining room, or study. The reds, dark greens, and warm flesh tones pair with traditional furniture and warm lighting. The 16x20 or 18x24 size gives the composition room to read. The painting has a theatrical, passionate quality that suits rooms with a bold design.
The painting entered the Met's collection in 1903, purchased with the Wolfe Fund. It was one of the first Delacroix paintings to enter an American museum.
This is a public domain artwork (CC0), scanned from the original at The Metropolitan Museum of Art. We print it on archival matte paper at sizes from 8x10 to 18x24 inches, framed or unframed. The image is printed at full resolution with no cropping.
