Two Studies of a Standing Indian from Calcutta

c. 1823/1824

Eugène Delacroix

Associated Names
Eugène Delacroix

Painter, French, 1798 - 1863

This painting shows a man depicted from two angles; on the left, he faces us, while on the right, his back is to us. In both views he wears the same clothes and is in the same position. The man has dark brown skin and a black mustache, with short black hair covered by a tilted red hat. He wears a long, brown, long-sleeved garment with a red section at his chest, a white sash around his waist, and a tan sash draped over his shoulders and across his chest. Under the garment he has striped gray pants and red sandals on his feet, the toes curved upwards. The man stands with one hand on his hip and the other hand placed on an indistinct object, possibly a chair. The background is painted in blurred shades of brown and gray.

Media Options

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On View

West Building Main Floor, Gallery 81

Artwork overview

  • Medium

    oil on canvas

  • Credit Line

    Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon

  • Dimensions

    overall: 36.8 x 45.7 cm (14 1/2 x 18 in.)
    framed: 50.5 x 58.7 x 3.5 cm (19 7/8 x 23 1/8 x 1 3/8 in.)

  • Accession Number

    2006.128.18

Artwork history & notes

Provenance

The artist; (his estate sale, Hôtel Drouot, Paris, 17-19 February 1864, no. 185); Édouard Frère [1819-1886]; (his estate sale, Hôtel Drouot, Paris, 29-30 November 1889, no. 215); Paul Arthur Chéramy [1840-1912], Paris; (his sale, Galerie Georges Petit, Paris, 5-7 May 1908, no. 182, bought in); (Cheramy estate sale, Hôtel Drouot, Paris, 15-16 April 1913, 2nd day, no. 36); (Cassirer). Bloomingdale [or Blomingdale?], New York, in 1953. (sale, Galerie Charpentier, Paris, 14 June 1957, no. 55). (Galerie Moos, Toronto). (Eugene Thaw, New York); sold 1969 to Paul Mellon [1907-1999], Upperville, Virginia; bequest 1999 to NGA, with life interest to Mrs. Mellon; life interest released 2006.
[1] Provenance from Lee Johnson, The Paintings of Eugène Delacroix: A Critical Catalogue, 1816-1831, 6 vols., Oxford, 1981: 1:no. 24.

Associated Names

Exhibition History

1968

  • De Delacroix à Picasso = From Delacroix to Picasso, Galerie Godard Lefort, Montreal; Gallery Moos, Toronto, 1968, no. 6, repro., as Étude Asiatique.

Bibliography

1981

  • Johnson, Lee. The Paintings of Eugène Delacroix: A Critical Catalogue. 6 vols. Oxford, 1981: 1:21, no. 24; 2:pl. 20.

Wikidata ID

Q20184879

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