The Natchez
A Natchez couple with their newborn on the banks of the Mississippi: a scene from Chateaubriand that Delacroix took twelve years to complete. Full commentary ↓
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The Natchez is an oil painting by Eugène Delacroix (1823–24 and 1835) in the collection of The Metropolitan Museum of Art. It measures 90.2 × 116.8 cm.
In the pictureA young man sits on the grassy riverbank, looking down at a newborn wrapped in red cloth in his arms, while beside him an exhausted woman lies propped against him. Behind them stretch a canoe, a wide river and an overcast sky, and in the foreground lie a bow, arrows and a container. The figures' skin is a warm brown, and the red cloth anchors the center of the picture.
BackgroundThe scene comes from Chateaubriand's novels Atala and Les Natchez: after their tribe has been massacred, a fleeing couple has a child on the banks of the Mississippi. Delacroix began the painting in 1823, left it untouched for a long time, and only finished it in 1835, when he sent it to the Salon. The Romantic choice of subject from his youth and the brushwork of his maturity overlap on a single canvas.
Puzzle tipThe red cloth and the skin tones of the two figures occupy the center, making them a good place to start. The sky and river at the top split into gray and blue pieces, and the grass at the bottom is a yellowish brown. Small, clearly shaped objects such as the canoe on the left and the bow and arrows in front serve as clues for placing pieces.
- Artist
- French, Charenton-Saint-Maurice 1798–1863 Paris
- Classification
- Paintings
- Medium
- Oil on canvas
- Dimensions
- 90.2 x 116.8 cm
- Credit line
- Purchase, Gifts of George N. and Helen M. Richard and Mr. and Mrs. Charles S. McVeigh and Bequest of Emma A. Sheafer, by exchange, 1989
Source: The Metropolitan Museum of Art ↗
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