Description
Eugène Delacroix’s Julienne, sister of Bertrand Duguesclin, confronts two English soldiers who have entered the castle under her care. With a sword and torch, she becomes the active center of a moment when responsibility turns into physical resistance. At the right, the maid Alix collapses, adding another response to the scene’s tense encounter.
Dated 1829, the lithograph illustrates Amable Tastu’s tales of chivalry, Chroniques de France. Delacroix gives the episode a dramatic structure through sharply different actions, contrasting Julienne’s force with the maid’s collapse. The museum impression precedes the addition of lithographic wash, preserving an early form of the design. The image makes a woman’s defense of the castle the focus of its narrative, joining literary storytelling with the concentrated intensity of a single pictured event.
Read our guide to giclée prints or browse the Eugène Delacroix collection.
Reviews
There are no reviews yet.