The master's hand

Like most large 19th-century decorative commissions, the murals of the Bibliothèque de l'Assemblée nationale were not painted by Delacroix alone. A workshop of assistants prepared grounds, blocked in backgrounds, and finished passages under his direction — a division of labour common to the period but rarely documented in detail.

This area combines close visual examination with technical imaging (infrared reflectography, raking light, pigment analysis) to separate the different hands at work across the library's ceilings and pendentives, distinguishing Delacroix's own brushwork from that of his collaborators.

Mapping who painted what sharpens our understanding of the workshop's internal organisation, and of how much of the finished decoration reflects Delacroix's direct touch versus his supervision of others.