French school; 19th century.

French school; 19th century.
Oil on canvas.
Signed E. Delacroix.
Frame is damaged
Measurements: 65.5 x 81.5 cm; 81 x 98 cm (frame).
In a sumptuous and delicate way the author of this work wraps the body of a naked young woman in rich fabrics. The woman, who adopts a languid, carefree pose, is oblivious to the viewer and absorbed in her own intimacy. This is a totally romantic attitude, the impossible attracts and fascinates the imagination, turning the image of the woman into a symbol of sensuality. It is the representation of an impossible because the romantics would never be able to find what they dreamed of, as they were realities that did not exist. It should also be noted that, within the subject matter of this nude, the author was inspired by the depictions of odalisques, which became widely popular. This recourse to Orientalism should be understood as one of the currents that fuelled European art in the 19th century, coinciding with the triumph of the capitalist bourgeoisie and the imperialist countries, especially England and France. Within the Romantic rejection of time itself, a fantastic and free flight in time and space developed, towards antiquity and towards an Orient that stretched from Spain to Russia, passing through North Africa and even reaching Japan. If Chinese art dominated the 18th century and Japanese art dazzled the Impressionists, the Middle East will be the new discovery. Starting with Ingres' beautiful and unattainable odalisques, with their pale skin and elegant gestures that always make one think of a captive Christian princess, never an Arab woman, the various schools of painting developed a whole new iconography that sought to recreate in a fantastic way - since nothing was known about the Orient - a world forbidden to Westerners and full of attractions. Painters such as the French painters Bouguereau and Giraud recreated exotic scenes in minute detail, seeking to serve as a window onto the unknown through an almost photographic reproduction that lends verisimilitude to the narratives and stimulates the imagination of the European spectator. The oriental protagonists are almost always beautiful, elegant women, who embody the yearning for the unattainable. Romantic exoticism is thus the quintessence of modern nostalgia; it is the constant pursuit of something impossible to attain, something that does not exist or has been transformed. Thus, although paintings like this one may appear realistic at first glance, they remain first and foremost Romantic, emblematic of an era and a way of thinking that ushered in the modern age.
Both the aesthetic and thematic treatment of the work indicate that this is a painter in contact with the currents of both Romanticism and Neoclassicism. In short, the characteristics of this work bring together various trends that developed in France in the early 19th century, making the country, and in particular the city of Paris, one of the most important cultural centres of the period.

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