DELACROIX Eugene (1798-1863), attributed to :... Lot 60

DELACROIX Eugene (1798-1863), attributed to : "Greek character smoking narghile". Watercolor gouache on black pencil line, annotated lower right: "Eug. Delacroix" (in ink, later in black pencil). Glued in full on a cardboard, some foxing. 12 x 12 cm. Our drawing is most probably a youthful work, at the time when Delacroix and his close friends Bonington and Huet discovered the Greek costumes brought back from their trip by their elder Jules-Robert Auguste. The European romantic youth, inspired by Lord Byron, was then passionate about the liberation of the Greeks from the Turkish yoke. Delacroix will give a few years later in 1826 a capital painting, "Greece on the ruins of Missolonghi" (Louvre museum). Expert : Cabinet De Bayser Condition report established by the Cabinet de BAYSER : small tear of 0.5 cm at the bottom right, stains, tear on the upper edge 3 cm, stuck on the edges.