Study of a Moorish Arcade, Spain

Description

Two faintly indicated arches and columns give Eugène Delacroix’s study of a Moorish arcade its restrained structure. Eugène Delacroix observes a Moorish arcade in Spain through pale graphite marks rather than a strongly contrasted finished scene. The drawing invites a close look at the particular forms, allowing architecture itself to become the focus without a dramatic action occupying the passage.

The graphite drawing dates to May 1832 and is made on laid paper. Its direct medium gives the observed structure a continuing visual form, preserving attention to a place through the means of drawn marks. The work’s interest lies in that encounter between artist and architecture, where a particular arcade can be considered at a close scale rather than becoming only a background to a more prominent subject.

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