In bliss and luxury, the legendary king of Assyria and Nineveh Sardanapal led an ugly life in his dissoluteness. This happened in the seventh century BC. e. The Medes, an ancient Indo-European people, besieged its capital for two years. Seeing that he could not stand the siege and die, the king decided that the enemies should not get anything. What does he want to do? Very simple. He himself will take the poison, and everything else is ordered to burn.
The death of Sardanapalus is the apotheosis of the pagan perception of the world. The pagan rites of all peoples were approximately the same. The lord dies, and wives, concubines, horses, servants, utensils must follow in the underworld so that he will lead an equally brilliant existence after death.
The story of the creation of Eugene Delacroix
Six years after Byron published the drama “Sardanapalus”, Eugene Delacroix created in 1827 a grandiose-sized (392 x 496 cm) canvas “Death of Sardanapalus”. According to legend, the tyrant was king of Nineveh and Assyria. He ruled Babylon (aka Bab-El, which means “Gate of God” in all Semitic languages) at the request of his brother Ashurbanipal. The episode, when the besieged city is about to fall, decided to write a romantic Delacroix.
What is depicted on the canvas
An intrepid and ruthless tyrant who, in order not to suffer torment, had already decided to take poison, was written by an artist who had previously traveled around the East and was imbued with a vision of this world. The painter brought to the forefront the massacre of naked women, horses, eunuchs. All this action takes place in a palace in which people, animals, royal clothes, gold and silver should burn. The death of Sardanapalus should be remembered for centuries.
There is no place for pity in her. Only the satrap is serene, all the other characters writhe in torment and attempts at resistance. But the funeral pyre is already ready (brushwood is prepared, and it can be seen in the upper right). The beloved concubine Mirra will die in it. She was given a great honor - her ashes are mixed with the ashes of the ruler. So grand should be the death of Sardanapalus at his own discretion.
Bright and impressive action seeks to portray Delacroix. Critics of his time rejected the painting "Death of Sardanapalus." Description of the picture is given above. They did not like the cruelty and rejection of the beautiful, which then triumphed on the canvases of Ingres. Only V. Hugo and later S. Baudelaire appreciated it properly.
Composition
The whole action develops along the illuminated diagonal from top to bottom from left to right. The composition consists of many figures.
The main place is occupied by a scarlet bed with a despot lying on it in perfect calm. He almost touches the head of an elephant with broken tusks. Near the right and left are the bodies of the murdered women. The diagonal ends with the preparation for death of a naked concubine, with whom the muscular slave wrung his hands behind his back. He already carried a dagger. To the left of this scene, the black slave prepares for death a stubborn, frightened beautiful horse with a smart and beautiful face.
"The death of Sardanapalus" is furnished with a series of murders. At the bottom right, you can see a man who unsuccessfully begs the king for pity. At the top right, a person prefers to hang himself, and not painfully die from burns. The tyrant is absolutely calm. He was already offered poison and a bowl for him on a tray in a beautiful jug. He will receive it at any time. The composition lives and moves, gives realism to the whole image: the fear of slaves, the passivity of the king, the dying horror emanating from the executioners.
Contrast of light and color
The picture is dominated by the red color of fire and blood. The background is dark, compared with the main scarlet and light that fills the central diagonal, on which numerous female bodies turn white. Everything is framed with gold scattered precious utensils. The warm color of the picture emphasizes the proximity of a fire threatening everyone. It looks like on closer inspection, "Death of Sardanapalus." An analysis of the picture says that the extinction of life is the driving force of the work. The picture was perceived ambiguously.
The most romantic painting by E. Delacroix “The Death of Sardanapalus” was forgotten for a long time and acquired by the Louvre only in 1921.