Paul Delaroche was one of the most successful and influential artists of the nineteenth century. He first made his name with historical scenes, such as Lady Jane Grey and Les Enfants d'Edouard (The Princes in the Tower), which enjoyed great acclaim at the Paris Salon, and later his Hemicycle at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts became the most famous monumental painting in France. In his final years he developed new directions as a portraitist and as an innovative religious painter while the popularity of prints after his works made him the most extensively reproduced artist of his era.
This catalogue, revised and updated since the version published in 1997, discusses and illustrates all the paintings by Delaroche in the Wallace Collection -- the finest group of his works outside France. It also provides a succinct introduction to this fascinating and, until recently, much misunderstood artist.