The Education of Achilles Gm-00019901

Eugène Delacroix (French, 1798–1863) "It is beautiful, even more beautiful, I believe, than the painting. I am enraptured, dear friend," wrote novelist George Sand to Eugène Delacroix in gratitude for his gift of this pastel. It was the last pastel Delacroix ever made and his last present to Sand.

Delacroix had first captured this subject--Chiron, the wisest of all centaurs, training Achilles in the art of hunting--on a corner of a curved ceiling devoted to poetry in Paris's Palais Bourbon Library, which he decorated from 1838 to 1847. On visits to Delacroix's studio twenty years later, Sand admired the new, rectangular painting of the subject the artist was working on. That canvas was promised to another admirer, so Delacroix made this nearly identical pastel for her and wrote to Sand's son, Maurice, informing him of the gift.

Highly educated in the classics, Delacroix depicted subjects from antiquity throughout his life. Like his compatriot Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres, Delacroix used ancient marble sculptures as his source but to entirely different effect. Ingres's figures retained the cool purity of stone, while Delacroix used movement and color to animate and integrate nude, horse, and landscape.

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Our Giclée Prints are printed here in Switzerland, one at a time, on heavy matte German art paper using the finest 12-color Canon archival inks. Some images are panoramic or tall and narrow—please select the 18" x 36" format for these.

Our Premium Museum Frame in Black is custom-made in Lugano, Switzerland, using natural wood moulding in a matte black satin finish. Each includes thick, hand-cut white mat boards and Plexiglass glazing. We tailor and print each image to fit its specific ratio and dimensions within our custom-made frames. The hand-cut mats are extra thick. Each bespoke museum frame ships in a custom box. Rush shipping is available for projects with tight deadlines—this is our specialty, and you will not be disappointed.

Our Antiqued Museum Frame in Gold is a high-quality frame made of solid wood, featuring traditional 19th-century cast plaster moulded details and closed corners. These frames are works of art in themselves, each with a unique patina. The hand-rubbed corners and gold finish evoke the elegance of times past. Your selected image is printed on German art paper with archival inks and mounted to quality art board within the frame. Plexiglass is added for print protection and the back is covered with Kraft paper and a hanger is supplied ready to hang..

Our Stretched Canvas prints are hand-stretched over 1.25" thick pine bars and printed with archival inks on a cotton-poly matte finish canvas. These are best-in-industry Swiss-quality canvases, hand-coated for UV protection.

Wall Murals are printed on a matte-finish, self-adhesive poly/fabric material that mounts easily and is ideal for smooth wall surfaces.

Our Note Cards are amazing—each is printed individually on 100% cotton art paper, comes with a kraft envelope, and is individually sleeved. (Image is scaled to fit the format.)

All of our images are digitized from the original negative or print and printed by our master printer to museum standards.

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Artwork in this collection is from The J. Paul Getty Museum. Reproduction rights are reserved by the copyright owner and used under license by Archivea GmbH.