Born in France in 1797, he was one of the most successful of the nineteenth century historical painters. He chose as his subjects dramatic moments from English and French history and achieving an illusion of theatrical tableaux, painted in seemingly brushless, almost photographic style, which was much admired by the American writer Henry James, amongst others. Delaroche exhibited regularly at the Salon in Paris and was seen as an artist whose work reflected a careful balance between the passionate art of the ‘Romantiques’ and the cool, calculated paintings of the ‘Classiques”. He died in 1856.
