Ferdinand Victor Eugene Delacroix, a French painter, born at Charenton, April 26, 1799, died at Champrosay, near Versailles, Aug. 13, 1863. He first became known by some able criticisms on art. He studied painting under Pierre Guerin, but from the very commencement of his career abandoned the classic school, and may be considered the founder of the romantic. His first picture, " Dante and Virgil," was exhibited in 1822. His second work, "The Massacre of Scio," is one of the most striking pictures of the French school of the 19th century. In 1831 he was sent by the government on a mission to Morocco, and while there he sketched a great variety of views and costumes, which were afterward reproduced in some very interesting and original pictures. He decorated one of the halls of the Palais Bourbon and some interior parts of. the Louvre and the Luxembourg. In 1857 he was admitted to the institute. Among his works are "Mephis-topheles appearing to Faust," "The Prisoner of Chillon," "Women of Algiers," and "The Lion Hunt." His productions are distinguished by their life and energy, but his coloring is more powerful than harmonious.

M. Thiers, then literary and artistic editor of the Consti-tutionnel, was the first to call attention to Delacroix's picture, "The Death of Sardana-palus." This painting, which in 1845 was sold for 6,000 francs, brought 96,000 in 1873.