The Scenic Sublime of Distant Historical Times
French Academism : The Love of History
His dramatic paintings include Strafford Led to Execution, depicting the English Archbishop Laud stretching his arms out of the small high window of his cell to bless Thomas Wentworth, 1st Earl of Strafford, as Strafford passes along the corridor to be executed, and the Assassination of the duc de Guise at Blois. Another famous work shows Cardinal Richelieu in a gorgeous barge, preceding the boat carrying Cinq-Mars and De Thou carried to their execution. Other important Delaroche works include The Princes in the Tower and La Jeune Martyre floating on the Tiber. Delaroche's work sometimes contained historical inaccuracies. For instance, The Execution of Lady Jane Grey is represented as taking place in a dungeon, which is badly inaccurate, but he tended to care more about dramatic effect than historical truth : see also The King in the Guardroom, where villainous Puritan soldiers blow tobacco smoke in the face of King Charles, and Queen Elizabeth Dying on the Ground.
In 1837 Delaroche also received the commission for the great picture that came to be known as the Hémicycle, a Raphaelesque tableau influenced by The School of Athens. This was a mural 27 metres long, in the hemicycle of the award theatre of the École des Beaux Arts. The commission came from the École's architect Félix Duban. The painting represents seventy-five great artists of all ages, in conversation, assembled in groups on either hand of a central elevation of white marble steps, on the topmost of which are three thrones filled by the creators of the Parthenon : architect Phidias, sculptor Ictinus, and painter Apelles, symbolizing the unity of these arts.
In 1837 Delaroche also received the commission for the great picture that came to be known as the Hémicycle, a Raphaelesque tableau influenced by The School of Athens. This was a mural 27 metres long, in the hemicycle of the award theatre of the École des Beaux Arts. The commission came from the École's architect Félix Duban. The painting represents seventy-five great artists of all ages, in conversation, assembled in groups on either hand of a central elevation of white marble steps, on the topmost of which are three thrones filled by the creators of the Parthenon : architect Phidias, sculptor Ictinus, and painter Apelles, symbolizing the unity of these arts.