Eugène Delacroix

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Eugène Delacroix
1798-1863
Mephistopheles Appears Before Faust
ca. 1824-1828
Pen and brown ink and wash over graphite.
8 x 6 7/16 inches (203 x 164 mm)
Thaw Collection.
2017.62
Inscription: 

Signed at lower margin in pen and brown ink, "Eug. Delacroix".

Provenance: 
Art market, Paris; private collection, Paris; Jill Newhouse, fall 1986, catalogue VII; Eugene V. and Clare E. Thaw, New York.
Bibliography: 

The Morgan Library & Museum, New York, NY, "Drawn to Greatness: Master Drawings from the Thaw Collection", 2017. Exh. cat., no. 93, repr.
Denison, Cara D. et al. The Thaw Collection : Master Drawings and New Acquisitions. New York : Pierpont Morgan Library, 1994, no. 70.

Notes: 

Watermark: none.
Goethe's Faust was first published in Germany in 1808 but soon became a European phenomenon. That Delacroix would have been drawn to the work and its moral complexity is no surprise; he produced a series of illustrations that appeared in an 1828 French edition of the play. While his designs were under way, he received Goethe's approbation: "The French censure him for his wildness, but it suits him well here. ... I must confess that M. Delacroix has, in some scenes, surpassed my own notions." -- Exhibition Label, from "Drawn to Greatness: Master Drawings from the Thaw Collection"

Associated names: 

Newhouse, Jill, former owner.
Thaw, Eugene Victor, former owner.
Thaw, Clare, former owner.

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