Eugène Delacroix was the most important exponent of French Romanticism in the arts. This remarkable creator was born in Charenton-Saint Maurice in 1798. a child, he turned to music and drawing. A disciple of Baron Guérin was influenced by artists such as Veronese, Rubens, Constable and Géricault. At twenty-seven visited England and was attracted by English painting, especially by the richness of color and rhythm of the stroke in the landscape. Faced with the classic spirit that prevailed at the time, his work initially aroused strong criticism, mainly by the brilliance of its color and the freedom of implementation. Well into the 1830s, was officially recognized and received commissions of importance, as the decoration of the City of Rouen, the roof of the Galerie d'Apollon in the Louvre, or the library of the French Senate. He died in 1863, after finishing the decoration of the chapel of the church of Saint Sulpice in Paris. His romantic spirit was reflected in the works designed, characterized by strong chiaroscuro, the exaltation of form and expressive force in the characters.
Delacroix was admired, among others, by the Impressionist painters, who studied the colors used by the artist and their use as a means to compose a picture.
Among the issues addressed by the artist prevailed those associated with pain, anguish and death, as in the orphan works at the cemetery, The Massacre of Chios and The Death of Sardanapalus, in addition to those that reflected their liberal and nationalist ideas, as Liberty Leading the People, or those inspired by the literature as Dante's boat.