# Sketches of Algerian Men

**Eugène Delacroix** (French, 1798–1863)  
c. 1832  
Pen and brown ink, with traces of graphite, on tan wove paper, laid down on cream wove paper  
20.5 × 30.2 cm (8 1/8 × 11 15/16 in.)

Courtesy of the Art Institute of Chicago, 1988.141.24. [The museum's record](https://www.artic.edu/artworks/110984).

## About this work

Quick pen sketches of men in robes and headdresses fill this sheet, made during or soon after Delacroix’s journey to North Africa in 1832. He travelled with a French diplomatic mission to the sultan of Morocco and stopped briefly in Algiers on the way home, filling notebooks and loose sheets with studies of people, costume and gesture. These observations fed his paintings for the rest of his career and changed his approach to colour and light.

_Written by Ochre Editions._

Eugène Delacroix painted this in about 1832, aged about 24. It is now at the Art Institute of Chicago.

### What you’re looking at

A work made of pen and brown ink, with traces of graphite, on tan wove paper, laid down on cream wove paper.

_Description from the Art Institute of Chicago._

### How it was made

- **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.
- **Pen and ink.** Drawn with a quill or reed pen, often with wash added by brush to model light and shadow.

### [Eugène Delacroix](https://www.ochreeditions.com/artists/eugene-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._

## Facts

- Type: Drawing and Watercolor
- Culture: France
- The artist was about 24
- Real size: about 8 × 12 in (20 × 30 cm). Closest to life size: the 8 × 10 in print.
- Century: 19th century
- Colour: olive
- Rights: public domain (CC0 1.0); free to use for any purpose.

## Get it

- Free download, full resolution: https://img.ochreeditions.com/m/275.jpg?dl=1
- Image: https://img.ochreeditions.com/a/275/1920.jpg
- Giclée reproduction on Hahnemühle Photo Rag: 8 × 10 in $28; 11 × 14 in $38; 12 × 16 in $42; 16 × 20 in $56
- Framed reproduction: 8 × 10 in $78; 11 × 14 in $98; 12 × 16 in $108; 16 × 20 in $138
- Canvas reproduction: 8 × 10 in $58; 11 × 14 in $72; 12 × 16 in $79; 16 × 20 in $98
- Print-ready file: 8 × 10 in $2; 11 × 14 in $2; 12 × 16 in $3; 16 × 20 in $3

Sizes stop where the museum's file would print below 150 pixels per inch. Everything sold is a reproduction, made to order. [Order a print](https://www.ochreeditions.com/art/sketches-of-algerian-men-aic-110984).