Study for "The Sultan of Morocco and His Entourage"

Study for "The Sultan of Morocco and His Entourage"

Eugène Delacroix

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Among his North African subjects, Delacroix returned repeatedly to Sultan Abd er-Rahman, the Moroccan ruler the French diplomatic mission had gone to meet. (Their aim, following the French invasion of Algeria in 1830, was to seek his cooperation to maintain control of the neighboring occupied territory.) Not long after the encounter took place, Delacroix made this compositional study based on his recollections and notes from the day. The drawing includes all the main protagonists: the sultan on horseback, two of his ministers at left, a military chief near the center with his back to the viewer, and French diplomat Charles de Mornay immediately to the right, accompanied by his interpreter.

Drawings and Prints

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Study for "The Sultan of Morocco and His Entourage"Study for "The Sultan of Morocco and His Entourage"Study for "The Sultan of Morocco and His Entourage"Study for "The Sultan of Morocco and His Entourage"Study for "The Sultan of Morocco and His Entourage"

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.