DELACROIX (Eugène). Autograph letter signed [to Charles Soul - Lot 28

Lot n° 28
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DELACROIX (Eugène). Autograph letter signed [to Charles Soul - Lot 28
DELACROIX (Eugène). Autograph letter signed [to Charles Soulier]. S.l., May 8, 1848. 4 pp. in-8. STRONG LETTER ON HIS DESARROY AFTER THE REVOLUTION OF 1848: the painter, who had celebrated the Revolution of 1830 (La Liberté guidant le peuple), saw with anguish the closing of the chapter of the liberal monarchy, and did not recognize himself in the revolutionaries of 1848. "Dear friend, I have not written to you and yet have not forgotten you. Your letter, when it arrived, put a bit of beauty in my blood. WE HAD JUST WITNESSED A TERRIBLE FALL AND I WAS CERTAINLY FOR NEARLY A MONTH AS IF I HAD RECEIVED A HOUSE ON THE HEAD. I have made up my mind now. I HAVE ENTERED THE MAN OF THE PAST WITH HIS HOPES AND DREAMS OF THE FUTURE, and now I pass over and over again with a certain apparent calmness the tomb where I have enclosed all this as if it were another. I see that everyone, according to the temperament of which he is gifted, underwent the same metamorphosis, a little earlier or a little later, WE ARE GOING TO BE RUINED, we attend a very curious but a little expensive spectacle. WE WILL ALL GROW LIKE GUYS THAT WE WILL BE AROUND THE AUTEL OF THE COUNTRY: but the principles before all. There is talk of a festival in which we will see the ox Apis, triumphal chariots filled and followed by 4 or 500 virgins. A revolution was still needed to work so many wonders. Are you at ease with your position? Here is what I would like to know. I hope that you have fewer unpleasant emotions in your campaign than we do in our Babylon. Apart from a few tugs, you must have moments of distraction in the spectacle of the fields and trees that never change. For us, it is impossible to lose sight of the present or the future for a single moment. The newspapers that are shouted all day long in the streets, the frantic conversations of everyone and the continuous functions put us constantly in front of the position. THAT WE ARE OLD, AND THAT THIS WILL MAKE US OLD! I HAVE SEEN ENTHUSIASTS AND THEY WERE YOUNG. Nothing demonstrates better than revolutions the necessity for old men to give way to new aspirants to life. I am cold as a marble and perhaps I will end up being as insensitive... I had ended up almost losing my eyes by reading the newspapers. It was a thirst that I could not quench. I have decided not to read any more: events will do without my approval since they do without my cooperation and I have not been consulted about what has been done. Farewell, dear friend: let's wrap ourselves in our coat if we have one: let's still keep an old bottle for friendship. All this will lead to something: in any case we will always see each other with happiness. So I kiss you tenderly in the meantime and wish you both calm and patience... " INTIMATE FRIEND OF EUGENE DELACROIX, CHARLES SOULIER was the son of an emigrant and had lived in England. He gave him English lessons, introduced him to English watercolor, and helped free him from the shackles of French academic education. Eugène Delacroix met his first love in the person of Elizabeth Salter, maid to Charles Soulier's sister.
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