Image · Public domain via Wikimedia Commons
Romantic · Painting
The Death of Sardanapalus
Eugène Delacroix · 1827
ArtistEugène Delacroix
Date1827
TypePainting
MediumOil on canvas
Dimensions392 cm × 496 cm (154 in × 195 in)
LocationDenon Wing
— The Work
About this masterpiece
Inspired by Lord Byron’s play, Delacroix imagines the legendary Assyrian king Sardanapalus reclining on his bed as his concubines, slaves and horses are slaughtered around him on his orders, so that none of his treasures should survive his impending defeat. The picture is a tumult of crimson, gold and writhing bodies, the king himself almost serene amid the carnage.
— Context
Historical significance
Exhibited at the 1827 Salon, the painting scandalized critics for its violent eroticism and rejection of classical clarity. It is now considered one of the high-water marks of French Romanticism, prefiguring the orientalist taste that would dominate later 19th-century painting.
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