Battle scene with Mamluk cavalry charge.

Drawing, pencil, 27 x 19,5 cm, tracing paper, signed in pencil at lower left "Delacroix" (tear of ca. 6 cm at right edge with some loss of paper, some brown stains).

Under gilt wooden frame with attr. label, under passe-partout (not studied outside frame).

A vibrant battle scene with a prominent Oriental soldier on horseback waving a scimitar. The figure can be identified as a fighting Mamluk, which had become a popular subject following Napoleon's military campaigns in Egypt. It soon became part of the standard repertoire of Oriental painting, led by Eugène Delacroix (1798-1863). The drawing shares many stylistic and technical characteristics with other attributed drawings of Delacroix, such as the detailed rendering of horses, the schematic outlines of some background figures and the overall dynamic diagonal composition. The drawing possibly originates from the early succesful years of Delacroix' career as the sheet echoes the general composition of the "Battle of Chios" (Musée du Louvre, 1824), which also deals with a similar oriental subject.