The Giaour on Horseback (recto); Study of a Woman with Head and Arms Thrown Back, and Study of the Head of an Old Man (verso).

The Giaour on Horseback (recto); Study of a Woman with Head and Arms Thrown Back, and Study of the Head of an Old Man (verso).

Eugène Delacroix

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

This dynamic study of a Venetian warrior (the Giaour) furiously racing after his beloved's killer, Hassan, was inspired by Byron's poem "The Giaour, a Fragment of a Turkish Tale," first published in 1813. Fascinated by this romance of passion and violence, Delacroix repeatedly portrayed the fatal combat between the Muslim master of the harem girl Leila and her avenging lover.

Drawings and Prints

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The Giaour on Horseback (recto); Study of a Woman with Head and Arms Thrown Back, and Study of the Head of an Old Man (verso).The Giaour on Horseback (recto); Study of a Woman with Head and Arms Thrown Back, and Study of the Head of an Old Man (verso).The Giaour on Horseback (recto); Study of a Woman with Head and Arms Thrown Back, and Study of the Head of an Old Man (verso).The Giaour on Horseback (recto); Study of a Woman with Head and Arms Thrown Back, and Study of the Head of an Old Man (verso).The Giaour on Horseback (recto); Study of a Woman with Head and Arms Thrown Back, and Study of the Head of an Old Man (verso).

The Department’s vast collection of works on paper comprises approximately 21,000 drawings, 1.2 million prints, and 12,000 illustrated books created in Europe and the Americas from about 1400 to the present day. Since its foundation in 1916, the Department has been committed to collecting a wide range of works on paper, which includes both pieces that are incredibly rare and lauded for their aesthetic appeal, as well as material that is more popular, functional, and ephemeral. The broad scope of the department’s collecting encourages questions of connoisseurship as well as those pertaining to function and context, and demonstrates the vital role that prints, drawings, and illustrated books have played throughout history.