Monday, February 10, 2014

Greece on the Ruins of Missolonghi (1827)

Eugène Delacroix: Greece on the Ruins of Missolonghi

The Greek war of independence from Turkish rule was a cause célèbre of European poets and artists. Lord Byron, in particular, did much to popularize the Greek cause. With this painting, Delacroix laid a Romantic stamp on the depiction of a tragic event (the townspeople of Missolonghi destroyed their city rather than surrender it to the Turks) which came to be an allegory of the entire struggle.

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