The Private Life of a Masterpiece

Eugene Delacroix: Liberty Leading the People

The series that reveals stories behind famous artworks returns, beginning with an examination of Eugene Delacroix 's response to the July revolution of in France. Delacroix's vibrant portrayal of the bare breasted figure of Liberty leading a rabble over a barricade was taken up as a symbol of revolution across the country. Its painter, however, later moaned that the trouble with revolutions was they got in the way of dinner parties.