Demosthenes on the Seashore

In 1859 Delacroix showed at the Paris Salon for the last time. He was 61, much of the press was hostile, and he never sent work there again. This oil on paper, signed and dated that same year, went to the dealer Francis Petit instead, and when his gallery showed it in 1860 it was well received.

The subject is Demosthenes, the Athenian orator of the 4th century BC. The ancient story says he trained his weak voice by speaking over the roar of the sea, so that no crowd in the assembly could drown him out. Delacroix already knew the figure well. About 15 years earlier he had painted Demosthenes among the orators and lawgivers on the library ceiling of the Palais Bourbon, the building where France's deputies sit. Here the orator is on his own, barefoot at the edge of the surf under a stormy sky, one arm stretched out toward the breaking waves.