The collection of Baron Denys Cochin

• 

  Delacroix

  Mirabeau Confronts the Marquis de Dreux-Brézé, Preliminary Sketch

  1830-31 · Canvas, 69 × 82 cm

  Musée Delacroix, Paris ↗

  See in the collection

  The first sketch of Mirabeau confronting Dreux-Brézé, Robaut’s no. 359 and no. 145 of Lee Johnson’s catalogue: the session of 23 June 1789 at which Mirabeau refused to leave the hall of the Estates General, painted in 1830 for the competition for the Chamber of Deputies that Guizot had opened^{[1, 2]}. Johnson follows it from Delacroix’s posthumous sale in February 1864, lot 141, knocked down to Jadin for 200 francs, to Denys Cochin, “after 1885 to 1915”, then to Dr Viau in March 1916; the Société des Amis de Delacroix had it by his bequest and the Louvre acquired it in 1953^[1]. The final sketch, on panel, signed and dated 1831, is at the Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek in Copenhagen, which bought it in 1914, the year it also bought the Execution of Maximilian by Manet that Denys Cochin had owned^{[2, 3]}.

  In his hands: Came about 1885 · Left in 1915

  Today: At the Musée national Eugène-Delacroix, Paris, MD 2021-5, formerly the Louvre’s RF 1953-41, assigned to the museum by an order of 29 June 2021 and shown in the studio^[4].

  Photograph on Wikimedia Commons, “Mirabeau et Dreux-Brézé, le 23 juin 1789.jpg”, from the Musée Delacroix website, public domain

  Sources (4)

  1. 1.Lee Johnson, The Paintings of Eugène Delacroix: A Critical Catalogue, I, 1816-1831, Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1981 : index général p. 255 (« Denys-Cochin, 151 ») et notices 145 et 146, p. 151-153, lus sur Internet Archive, vol. I, p. 151, n° 145.

     Reference work · partly read (restricted access), 6 October 2026 · view ↗

     « Mirabeau confronts the Marquis de Dreux-Brézé, preliminary sketch. 26 7/8 × 32 3/8 in. (68.2 × 81.7 cm) E.D. R359 (1831. No repr.). 1830/1. Musée du Louvre. Provenance: Delacroix’s posthumous sale, Feb. 1864, lot 141 (without dimensions), to Jadin, 200 fr.; Denys-Cochin, after 1885 to 1915; Dr. G. Viau, March 1916, d. c. 1942; Société des Amis de Delacroix (by his bequest?); acquired by the Louvre (RF 1953-41), 1953. Exhibitions: EBA, Paris 1885, no. 120 (with the dimensions listed by Robaut for the Copenhagen sketch (J146): 78 × 92 cm. Lent by Emmanuel Jadin and provenance from the posthumous sale noted); Louvre 1930, no. 58. A rapid sketch which establishes the basic design of the more finished competition sketch (J146). »

  2. 2.Lee Johnson, The Paintings of Eugène Delacroix: A Critical Catalogue, I, 1816-1831, Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1981 : index général p. 255 (« Denys-Cochin, 151 ») et notices 145 et 146, p. 151-153, lus sur Internet Archive, vol. I, p. 152-153, n° 146.

     Reference work · partly read (restricted access), 6 October 2026 · view ↗

     « Mirabeau confronts the Marquis de Dreux-Brézé, final sketch. Wood panel, 30 5/16 × 39 3/4 in. (0.77 × 1.01 m). Signed and dated bottom right: Eug. Delacroix 1831. Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek, Copenhagen. Provenance: Bouruet-Aubertot, by 1860; […] Hector Brame, by 1910; bought for the Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek (I.N. 1751), Copenhagen, 1914. In the Moniteur universel of 30 September 1830, Guizot, Minister of the Interior, announced a competition for three paintings to decorate the wall behind the rostrum in the new Chamber of Deputies, then under construction in the Palais Bourbon. The final judgement of the Mirabeau sketches was made on 6 March 1831, by a jury which included Delacroix’s master Guérin, Gros and Ingres; Hesse won the commission. »

  3. 3.Denis Rouart et Daniel Wildenstein, Édouard Manet, catalogue raisonné, Lausanne et Paris, La Bibliothèque des Arts, 1975, 2 vol. : index et notices 5, 109, 125, 127, 312 (vol. I) et 548 (vol. II), lus dans la bibliothèque numérique du Wildenstein Plattner Institute, vol. I, p. 118, n° 125.

     Reference work · partly read (restricted access), 6 October 2026 · view ↗

     « L’Exécution de Maximilien. T. h. 0,50 ; l. 0,60. Signé et daté b. g. : Manet 1867. Généralement considéré comme une esquisse antérieure au tableau définitif. […] Historique : donné par Manet à Mery Laurent ; Victor Margueritte, Paris ; Montaignac, Paris ; Bernheim Jeune, Paris, 1906 ; Denys Cochin, Paris, 1909 ; Durand-Ruel, 1910 ; acquis par le Musée de Copenhague en 1914 ; dépôt du Musée des Beaux-Arts en 1915. Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek, Copenhague. »

  4. 4.Musée du Louvre, collections en ligne, Delacroix, Première esquisse pour Mirabeau devant Dreux-Brézé (23 juin 1789), MD 2021-5, autrefois RF 1953-41 : notice, notice.

     Reference work · read in full, 6 October 2026 · view ↗

     « Première esquisse pour Mirabeau devant Dreux-Brézé (23 juin 1789). Numéro principal : MD 2021-5. Autre numéro d’inventaire : RF 1953-41. Delacroix, Eugène. Vers 1830-1831. Hauteur 69 cm, largeur 82 cm. Technique : huile ; support : toile. Collection : Musée national Eugène-Delacroix. Propriété : État. Acquisition : affectation, attribution, date de l’arrêté 29/06/2021. Localisation actuelle : Musée National Eugène Delacroix, Atelier. »