Delacroixs Moroccans - Jennifer

The Women Of Algiers In Their Apartment Is Arguably Eugne Delacroixs Best-known Work From His Trip To Morocco In 1832, And The Attention Scholars Have Paid To It Has Obscured A Crucial Fact About Delacroixs Moroccan Subjects: Most Of His Paintings Of North Africa Depict Men Rather Than Women. After Serving As A Diplomats Companion On A Mission To Morocco, Delacroix Went On To Devote Over Three-quarters Of His Massive North African Oeuvre To The Military Prowess, Effective Leadership, Equestrian Virtuosity, And Elegant Dress Of Moroccan Men. Using The Evidence Of His Writings, Sketches, And Paintings, Olmsted Argues That Rather Than Embodying A Typical Colonialist Fantasy, Delacroixs Paintings Of Moroccan Men Instead Show His Subjects As Models Of Heroic Masculinity And Political Sovereignty, A Position That Ran Counter To Prevailing French Attitudes Toward North Africans.