Ferdinand-Victor-Eugène Delacroix (Charenton-Saint-Maurice 1798-1863 Paris)

This rearing horse with a faintly visible horseman brandishing a lance can be related to a decorative project for the library of the Chambre des Députés of the Assemblée nationale, Paris, representing Atilla and his hordes overrunning Italy (L. Johnson, The Paintings of Eugène Delacroix. A Critical Catalogue, Oxford, 1989, V, no. 541, VI, pls. 25, 27). Delacroix worked on this important project from 1841 until 1847, and the drawing can be dated accordingly.