Eugene Delacroix's The Abduction Of Rebecca

Eugene Delacroix, born on april 26 1798, was a French painter who had a lot of influence on Romanticism. He studied art at age 17 and he was mentored by academic painter , Baron Pierre-Narcisse Guerin. He learned from the romantic Landscapist and used dome of their techniques . Early on in his life, he demonstrated the influence that Michelangelo and Peter Paul Rubens, two excellent artist , had on his painting . Delacroix intensely studied Michelangelo’s modeling of figures and the life (or death) he brought to the canvas. He was also deeply affected by Rubens' treatment of color. Romantic artist play around with emotions, divinity found in nature and the sense of creativity or imagination. He developed his own style over the years and had …show more content…
The colors used by the artist gives you a feeling of doom, of chaos. The painting expresses a lot of intense emotions. The shape and movment of the figures show a sense of livelihood. The clouds and the smoke are made of loose charcoal and they emphasize the battle going on in the background . Intense drama is created in The Abduction of Rebecca, as much by the contorted poses and compacted space, as by the artist's use of vivid color. As described in the museum “the focus of the composition is the figural group ,which is rich in color and texture. By contrast, the paint in the background is diluted and the forms appear to be vague. In the corner left Delacroix build up the painting’s surface in layers. He began with the diluted blue background which accentuate how loose and pale the horse’s face is. He applied rippled brushstroke so you can distinguish the horse’s mane. Then he put on the horseman costume and accessories. The green tunic and the pouch was shown by a few stroke of yellow as well as some red mixed with white. The brown layer by the horse’s feet was left visible by the artist and it gave a soft aspect to the contour. It also gave the illusion of the horse being in movement. Delacroix describes the curvature and high sheen of the horse’ s hindquarters by multiple short strokes in all directions. He also allows the layer of brown to show through so it could have a shadow effect by the tail of the horse.as we get to Rebecca’s posture in the picture ,it gets less chaotic. She seems dormant as if she just let go of all the fight that was In her. She looks like she abandoned herself to her assailant. The dynamic colors Delacroix used made the painting more realistics. An article by Ashley Morgan lee state that “The off-white cloak of Templar is reflected upon the skin and hair of Rebecca, creating a connection between the two separate parts of the same scene. The repetition of the light colors among