Study for "The Sultan of Morocco and His Entourage"

This drawing shows the final composition for the largest painting Delacroix made based on his experience in North Africa, his submission to the Salon of 1845. The Franco-Moroccan war of 1844 must have reignited his interest in the sultan as a subject. By that time, however, the ambassadorial mission was seen as a failure, and Delacroix excluded the French delegation from the group. The omission shifts the work from a record of diplomatic ceremony to an imposing portrait of a ruler.

Credit: Rogers Fund, 1961