Count Demetrius De Palatiano In Suliot Costume

Description

Count Demetrius de Palatiano stands in Suliot costume, wearing an elaborately embroidered jacket above a broad pleated white skirt. Red shoes and headwear give warmer accents to the figure, whose gaze turns toward the left. A dark wooded landscape surrounds him, allowing the bright fabric and richly decorated clothing to hold a prominent place within the scene.

The undated oil painting on fabric is currently attributed to an imitator of Eugène Delacroix. Palatiano was a Greek aristocrat who posed for Delacroix and other artists in Paris, when Greek independence and soldiers’ costumes attracted considerable European attention. The portrait makes dress central to the sitter’s presence, balancing luminous white fabric with darker surroundings. Loose handling gives both costume and setting an animated surface, preserving the figure’s prominence within a compact but richly contrasted composition.

Read our guide to giclée prints or browse the Eugène Delacroix collection.