Resting on the Banks of the Tiber

other

Delaroche's work is characterized by scrupulous accuracy in historical detail and a technique that incorporates a glossy finish. His compositions are highly theatrical, imitating waxworks or stage tableaux. He sometimes made wax or plaster models to help him achieve the best arrangement of the figures.

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About the Artist

Paul Delaroche

1797 – 1856

French painter, one of the leading pupils of Gros. He achieved great popularity with his melodramatic history scenes, engravings of his work hanging in thousands of homes. Often he chose subjects from English history, as with two of his most famous works, The Little Princes in the Tower (Louvre, Paris, 1831) and The Execution of Lady Jane Grey (National Gallery, London, 1833). They are Romantic in flavour, but academically impeccable in their draughtsmanship and detailing. After a period when such pictures were totally out of favour, his work is once again being treated seriously.

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