GENERAL DESCRIPTION
Eugène Delacroix made more than twenty-five drawings of antique coins and he translated some of them into lithographs showing various coin groupings such as this arrangement of six. He produced these prints during the mid 1820s in the hopes that sales would supplement his income earned from publishing illustrations for literary works by Goethe and Shakespeare (examples of which are also in the Museum's collection). The metal reliefs shown in this work came from coins belonging to Baron Louis-Auguste Schwitter and the Duke of Blacas. By closely studying the Greek and Roman imagery, Delacroix was enacting the traditional academic practice of drawing from plaster casts of classical sculpture but also challenging this tradition by choosing flat, planar sources rather than sculpture in the round and by including each coin's individual knicks and wear marks.
Drawn from
- Loys Delteil, Delacroix: The Graphic Work, A Catalogue Raisonné, (San Francisco: Alan Wofsy Fine Arts, 1997), no. D. 42-47.
- Joyce Bernstein Howell, "Delacroix's Lithographs of Antique Coins," Gazette des Beaux-Arts, (July-August, 1994), 15-24.
NOTES
Added title variant according to online catalogue for Art Institute of Chicago- Sheet of Six Antique Medals. 1825. Delteil 44 II/IV; Moreau 30; Robaut 145. (http://www.artic.edu/aic/collections/artwork/63149?search_no=14&index=21)
Added Six antique coins as a variant title according to the Bibliothèque Nationale.
Howell names the series of five lithographs as Prints of Antique Coins in 1825. I entered this as the "Portfolio/Series" in TMS.
Added bibliographic sources.
No provenance information apart from the purchase records.
FUNFACTS with their sources:
In 1828, after studying at least two private coin collections, Delacroix bartered with Baron Louis-Auguste Schwitter and exchanged a watercolor for a set of plaster casts of Schwitter's antique coins. (From Loys Delteil, Delacroix: The Graphic Work, A Catalogue Raisonné, (San Francisco: Alan Wofsy Fine Arts, 1997), no. D. 42-47.)
This lithograph was made when the print-making method was less than ten years old.
Delacroix's attention to detail in the surfaces, shapes, and symbols on these antique objects was so thorough that it has allowed scholars to identify not just which type of coin he depicted, but the exact coin based on wear patterns or incidental centuries-old damage. (From Joyce Bernstein Howell, "Delacroix's Lithographs of Antique Coins," Gazette des Beaux-Arts, (July-August, 1994), 17.)
The largest, central motif is identifiable as a Coin of Messinia: Zeus Ithomatas, c. 4th Century B.C., silver. (Bibliothèque Nationale, 1724A.)
Removed TMS object tag because rule exists.
I removed the following potential image assets and did not include them as web resources because the images are small and the descriptions are minimal.
Additional examples of Delacroix's lithographs from the series of Prints of Antique Coins.
- Eugène Delacroix, Sheet of Seven Antique Medals, 1825. (Art Institute of Chicago, 1948.296)
- Eugène Delacroix, Sheet of Twelve Antique Medals, 1825. (Art Institute of Chicago, 1948.297)
Catalogue essays specific to object
Artist/designers
Cultures
Geography
Produced- Paris
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Historical periods
Individuals
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animals
medals
men
numismatic
still life
illustration
beard
profile
lion
nude
bull
myth
gods
RELATED OBJECTS
PROVENANCE
Before 1953: Alfred and Juanita Bromberg, Dallas, TX
From 1953: Dallas Museum of Fine Arts, gift from the above [1]
[1] The name of the Dallas Museum of Fine Arts, founded in 1933, was changed to the Dallas Museum of Art in 1983.
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FUN FACTS
- In 1828, after studying at least two private coin collections, Delacroix bartered with Baron Louis-Auguste Schwitter and exchanged a watercolor for a set of plaster casts of Schwitter's antique coins.
- This lithograph was made when the print-making method was less than ten years old.
- Delacroix's attention to detail in the surfaces, shapes, and symbols on these antique objects was so thorough that it has allowed scholars to identify not just which type of coin he depicted, but the exact coin based on wear patterns or incidental centuries-old damage.
- The largest, central motif is identifiable as a Coin of Messinia: Zeus Ithomatas, c. 4th Century B.C., silver.
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Apply to objects where number equals 1953.49
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General Description
Eugène Delacroix made more than twenty-five drawings of antique coins and he translated some of them into lithographs showing various coin groupings such as this arrangement of six. He produced these prints during the mid 1820s in the hopes that sales would supplement his income earned from publishing illustrations for literary works by Goethe and Shakespeare (examples of which are also in the Museum's collection). The metal reliefs shown in this work came from coins belonging to Baron Louis-Auguste Schwitter and the Duke of Blacas. By closely studying the Greek and Roman imagery, Delacroix was enacting the traditional academic practice of drawing from plaster casts of classical sculpture but also challenging this tradition by choosing flat, planar sources rather than sculpture in the round and by including each coin's individual knicks and wear marks.
Drawn from
- Loys Delteil, Delacroix: The Graphic Work, A Catalogue Raisonné, (San Francisco: Alan Wofsy Fine Arts, 1997), no. D. 42-47.
- Joyce Bernstein Howell, "Delacroix's Lithographs of Antique Coins," Gazette des Beaux-Arts, (July-August, 1994), 15-24.
Fun Facts
- In 1828, after studying at least two private coin collections, Delacroix bartered with Baron Louis-Auguste Schwitter and exchanged a watercolor for a set of plaster casts of Schwitter's antique coins.
- This lithograph was made when the print-making method was less than ten years old.
- Delacroix's attention to detail in the surfaces, shapes, and symbols on these antique objects was so thorough that it has allowed scholars to identify not just which type of coin he depicted, but the exact coin based on wear patterns or incidental centuries-old damage.
- The largest, central motif is identifiable as a Coin of Messinia: Zeus Ithomatas, c. 4th Century B.C., silver.
Archival Resources
Web Resources
Notes
Added title variant according to online catalogue for Art Institute of Chicago- Sheet of Six Antique Medals. 1825. Delteil 44 II/IV; Moreau 30; Robaut 145. (http://www.artic.edu/aic/collections/artwork/63149?search_no=14&index=21)
Added Six antique coins as a variant title according to the Bibliothèque Nationale.
Howell names the series of five lithographs as Prints of Antique Coins in 1825. I entered this as the "Portfolio/Series" in TMS.
Added bibliographic sources.
No provenance information apart from the purchase records.
FUNFACTS with their sources:
In 1828, after studying at least two private coin collections, Delacroix bartered with Baron Louis-Auguste Schwitter and exchanged a watercolor for a set of plaster casts of Schwitter's antique coins. (From Loys Delteil, Delacroix: The Graphic Work, A Catalogue Raisonné, (San Francisco: Alan Wofsy Fine Arts, 1997), no. D. 42-47.)
This lithograph was made when the print-making method was less than ten years old.
Delacroix's attention to detail in the surfaces, shapes, and symbols on these antique objects was so thorough that it has allowed scholars to identify not just which type of coin he depicted, but the exact coin based on wear patterns or incidental centuries-old damage. (From Joyce Bernstein Howell, "Delacroix's Lithographs of Antique Coins," Gazette des Beaux-Arts, (July-August, 1994), 17.)
The largest, central motif is identifiable as a Coin of Messinia: Zeus Ithomatas, c. 4th Century B.C., silver. (Bibliothèque Nationale, 1724A.)
Removed TMS object tag because rule exists.
I removed the following potential image assets and did not include them as web resources because the images are small and the descriptions are minimal.
Additional examples of Delacroix's lithographs from the series of Prints of Antique Coins.
- Eugène Delacroix, Sheet of Seven Antique Medals, 1825. (Art Institute of Chicago, 1948.296)
- Eugène Delacroix, Sheet of Twelve Antique Medals, 1825. (Art Institute of Chicago, 1948.297)
Catalogue essays specific to object
Artist/designers
Cultures
Geography
Produced- Paris
Process/materials
Historical periods
Individuals
Subject terms
animals
medals
men
numismatic
still life
illustration
beard
profile
lion
nude
bull
myth
gods
RELATED OBJECTS
PROVENANCE
Before 1953: Alfred and Juanita Bromberg, Dallas, TX
From 1953: Dallas Museum of Fine Arts, gift from the above [1]
[1] The name of the Dallas Museum of Fine Arts, founded in 1933, was changed to the Dallas Museum of Art in 1983.
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