Eugene Delacroix's Liberty Leading The People

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Romanticism gained propulsion as an aesthetic movement in Britain and France in the early decades of the nineteenth century and prospered before the coming of mid-century. A certain image of France started to be outlined, and the troubadour style foreshadowed the development of a new kind of spirit (Rosenthal 11). Liberty Leading the People (1830) by Eugene Delacroix is one of the prominent romantic artworks and is a historically vital painting, celebrating the day of The French Revolution of 1830 which the French people rebelled and fought for their liberty. It is important to remember how radical this painting was; its republican revolutionary politics were palpable, perhaps a little bit lost to people today. This confirms his fearless expressions …show more content…

There were three days of beyond protest of open warfare in the streets of Paris. Paris at this time was a medieval city, the streets were narrow and winding, therefore it was easy to block off French troops, as a result, what can be seen in the painting is a barricade, which was a makeshift blockade and was made of furniture, wagons, and especially of cobblestones, which can be seen down in the very foreground. Over those cobblestones strides a figure who one would not have actually seen on the streets of Paris. Thus, there is a mixture of the real and the unreal as there is an allegorical figure of the Liberty herself carrying the French tricolour flag which represents equality, fraternity and liberty, the values of revolution. However, the violence is frightening. There are dead members of both sides of the fight in the foreground. The figure on the left is very brutal. It is clear that he is in his night shirt and one of the practices of the repressive government was to go after the opposition in their homes, beat them to death and drag them into the streets as a reminder, do not do

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