Eugène Delacroix
French, 1798-1863
Study for Group of Angels, c. 1824-27
Graphite and sepia wash

Two ethereal angels huddle in mourning. Startlingly moving emotion and overwhelming sadness is felt in their weeping and profound expression. Eugène Delacroix made this preparatory drawing for a monumental Agony in the Garden painting in the Church of Saint-Paul-Saint-Louis, Paris. The diminutive scale of this sketch is surprising since it is a large compositional element of the resulting painting. The artist uses hands, folded on the chest of one angel and hiding the face of the other, to compellingly indicate the pain and sorrow of witnessing Christ’s imminent suffering and death.