1859, Eugène Delacroix, Demosthenes on the Seashore -- National Gallery of Ireland (Dublin)
From the museum label: Ancient Athenian statesman and orator, Demosthenes (384-322BC), is said to have cured a stammer, by filling his mouth with pebbles and making speeches against the noise of the sea. Delacroix captures the scene with Romantic flourish. Demosthenes walks barefoot, his hand stretched out against the wind and crashing waves. His head derives from the posthumous marble statue by Polyeuktos, known from many copies. Demosthenes had been one of the four figures depicted by Delacroix, 1844-45, to represent 'Legislation and Eloquence', on the library ceiling of, what is now, the Assemblée Nationale, Palais Bourbon, Paris.
1859, Eugène Delacroix, Demosthenes on the Seashore -- National Gallery of Ireland (Dublin)
From the museum label: Ancient Athenian statesman and orator, Demosthenes (384-322BC), is said to have cured a stammer, by filling his mouth with pebbles and making speeches against the noise of the sea. Delacroix captures the scene with Romantic flourish. Demosthenes walks barefoot, his hand stretched out against the wind and crashing waves. His head derives from the posthumous marble statue by Polyeuktos, known from many copies. Demosthenes had been one of the four figures depicted by Delacroix, 1844-45, to represent 'Legislation and Eloquence', on the library ceiling of, what is now, the Assemblée Nationale, Palais Bourbon, Paris.