Delacroix contre Girodet: réflexions autour d’un poème méconnu

Abstract

This article focuses on a somewhat neglected satirical poetic work by Eugène Delacroix, devoted to the painting Pygmalion and Galatea by Anne-Louis Girodet (first exhibited at the 1819 Salon). The text dates back to 1824, the year of both Géricault’s and Girodet’s deaths. After analysing the text and its context, the author explores a new interpretative hypothesis: the work could well be seen as a reaction Delacroix developed against anti-romantic neoclassical positions that, on the occasion of Girodet’s funeral, were fiercely expressed by Gros and Gérard.