Delacroix: and the Rise of Modern Art Hardcover – November 10, 2015 by Patrick Noon and, Christopher Riopelle (National Gallery London)

Noon is the author of the magnificent catalogue of Bonington, so I was happily anticipating this book of a blockbuster exhibition, currently in Minneapolis, and soon to be at the National Gallery in London. A beautiful book, with good essays and many full page reproductions (and some judicious closeups: for instance, the discussion of Delacroix's influence on Van Gogh depends on a close-up analysis of the figure of Christ on the sea of Galilee in Delacroix's painting (cat.43), and that is what we get on the following page - a small thing, but appreciated). The overall theme of the book and the exhibition is to bring to the foreground the influence of the Romantic period on the later period (Impressionism, etc.), which is usually overshadowed by the landscapists (Corot and the Barbizon school among others). Some of the paintings here are virtually unknown -- there's a Cezanne nude from a private collection I've never seen, and an early Bucephalus from Degas, Manet's copy of the Barque of Dante, a knockout Matisse from Grenoble -- as well as a huge array of other paintings, all the way from Bonington to Gauguin and Signac, many famous (Delacroix's Ovid in Exile; Van Gogh's Pieta, etc., etc.) . One delight is the number of homage copies of originals -- Delacroix's copy of Rubens, Renoir's of Delacroix to mention two -- these painters were pretty good copyists (!). A lot of thought has gone into the choices -- for instance, there's a whole sequence of flower paintings, linked to an amazing Delacroix sketch; a substantial cluster of Cezannes in dialogue with Delacroix; and so on. Just great. Someone must have called in a lot of chits (though the Minneapolis Delacroix paintings in the exhibition are standouts all by themselves -- and there's a Signac winter scene that would be worth a trip alone !)

Anything missing? Well, I'm a sucker for Delacroix's Moroccan watercolours and would have liked a whole discussion of their influence (there are tiny pictures of a couple of them). But that's just self-indulgence. If you love Delacroix at all and his environs this is truly a book for you.

From the strength of the treasures portrayed in this book, you might well consider a trip to Minneapolis (or London in February). There are lots worse ways to spend winter.