Saada, the Wife of Abraham Ben-Chimol, and Préciada, One of Their Daughters1832
Saada, wife of Abraham Ben-Chimol, and their daughter Préciada pose in their finery, painted in watercolour over a light pencil drawing during Delacroix’s stay in Tangier in 1832. More about this work
About this work
Saada, wife of Abraham Ben-Chimol, and their daughter Préciada pose in their finery, painted in watercolour over a light pencil drawing during Delacroix’s stay in Tangier in 1832. Ben-Chimol, a member of the city’s Jewish community, worked as an interpreter for the French consulate and helped the artist gain access to homes and ceremonies he could not otherwise have seen. Delacroix was struck by the colour and dignity of Moroccan dress, and watercolour, quick and portable, let him capture it on the spot.
Written by Ochre Editions.
How it was made
- Watercolour
- Pigment in gum arabic, thinned with water and laid in transparent washes. Nothing white is painted: the light is the paper showing through.
- Graphite
- Pencil. Graphite has been used for drawing since the 1500s; in 1795 Nicolas-Jacques Conté mixed it with clay, so its hardness could be graded.
Eugène Delacroix
French, 1798–1863 · Born in Charenton-Saint-Maurice; died in Paris.
Delacroix trained under Pierre-Narcisse Guérin and emerged in the 1820s as the leader of French Romanticism, with dramatic, richly coloured canvases such as The Death of Sardanapalus and Liberty Leading the People. A six-month journey to Morocco and Algeria in 1832 gave him a store of sketches and memories that fed his work for decades. Later he decorated public buildings in Paris, among them the Chapel of the Holy Angels at Saint-Sulpice, and his journal is a key record of his thinking.
Written by Ochre Editions.
Rights and the museum’s record
Public domain. The Met has dedicated this image to the public domain under CC0, so anyone may copy, adapt and use it, for any purpose, without asking. Our prints and files are reproductions made from the museum’s image; the museum doesn’t endorse them.
- Object number
- 1972.118.210
- Credit
- Courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art
- Type
- Drawings
- Department
- Drawings and Prints
- Licence
- CC0 1.0 Universal
- Museum record
- See it on the museum’s site
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