108. Liberty Leading the People. Eugene Delacroix. 1830 ce. Oil on canvas.

• Form
  • Strong pyramidical structure
  • Red/white/blue echo throughout the painting
• Content
  • Liberty, with breast exposed and wearing no shoes, charges symbolically over the barricades
  • Liberty wears a red Phrygian cap, worn in the ancient world by freed slaves; portrayed as rebellious, vibrant, and fiery; she references the French Revolution of 1789.
  • Notre Dame Cathedral is seen through the smoke on the far right; the French tricolor is raised on its tower
  • The Parisian landmark of Notre Dame is mixed in with the true historical event and the allegorical and symbolic figures
• Context
  • The painting symbolically depicts the July Revolution(1830); Liberty with the French tricolor in her hand marches over the barricades to overthrow government soldiers
  • The painting memorializes the overthrow of the French government of Charles X, the last Bourbon king of France, in favor of the “citizen king” Louis-Philippe
  • The child with pistols symbolizes the role of students in the revolt; the middle class is represented by a man with a top hat and carrying a rifle; the lower classes are symbolized by the man at extreme left with a sword in his hand and a pistol in his hand and a pistol in his belt
• History
  • Exhibited at the Salon of 1831 and then acquired by the French state; not exhibited publicity for 25 years because of its subversive message