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The Combat of the Giaour and Hassan

Two men on horseback clash in battle, another man crouches with knife.
CC0 Public Domain Designation

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  • Two men on horseback clash in battle, another man crouches with knife.

Date:

1826

Artist:

Eugène Delacroix
French, 1798-1863

About this artwork

This colorful scene was inspired by a poem from Lord Byron’s “Oriental tales,” a popular series of romances. Both the poem and the painting are examples of 19th-century Europeans’ interest in fantastical and often violent depictions of Middle Eastern, North African, and Asian cultures, which reinforced colonialist aims. Although Eugène Delacroix did not visit North Africa until 1832, he began painting Orientalist subjects early on in his career. The artist’s French audience would have been receptive to his choice of jewel-like colors to describe the shimmering, gold-braided vest and billowing robes of the central figures. Far from accurately representing the attire of the 17th-century combatants of Byron’s poem, Delacroix drew upon styles worn by the Turko-Egyptian Mameluke warriors during Napoleon Bonaparte’s military campaign in Egypt in 1798–99.

Status

On View, Gallery 220

Department

Painting and Sculpture of Europe

Artist

Eugène Delacroix

Title

The Combat of the Giaour and Hassan

Place

France (Artist's nationality:)

Date  Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.

1826

Medium

Oil on canvas

Dimensions

59.6 × 73.4 cm (23 1/2 × 28 7/8 in.)

Credit Line

Gift of Bertha Palmer Thorne, Rose Movius Palmer, Mr. and Mrs. Arthur M. Wood, and Mr. and Mrs. Gordon Palmer

Reference Number

1962.966

IIIF Manifest  The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) represents a set of open standards that enables rich access to digital media from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions around the world.

Learn more.

https://api.artic.edu/api/v1/artworks/110663/manifest.json

Extended information about this artwork

Object information is a work in progress and may be updated as new research findings emerge. To help improve this record, please email . Information about image downloads and licensing is available here.

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