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The Young Martyr by Paul Delaroche: Overall Look

The Young Martyr is an 1855 oil painting by French artist Paul Delaroche depicting a young Christian woman who drowned in the Tiber River after refusing to deny her faith. Delaroche painted her floating in the river, hands bound and with a halo above her head to portray her martyrdom and triumph over her persecutors. The medium-sized canvas uses techniques like contrasting colors and fine brushstrokes to realistically portray the disturbing scene while maintaining a calming effect.

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204 views2 pages

The Young Martyr by Paul Delaroche: Overall Look

The Young Martyr is an 1855 oil painting by French artist Paul Delaroche depicting a young Christian woman who drowned in the Tiber River after refusing to deny her faith. Delaroche painted her floating in the river, hands bound and with a halo above her head to portray her martyrdom and triumph over her persecutors. The medium-sized canvas uses techniques like contrasting colors and fine brushstrokes to realistically portray the disturbing scene while maintaining a calming effect.

Uploaded by

Lara
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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The Young Martyr by Paul Delaroche

The Young Martyr oil painting of


Paul Delaroche portrays a young Christian
woman drowned in the Tiber River by the
Romans after she refused to deny her faith.
Delaroche’s most known painting is done
on a 59x60cm canvas, finished in 1855.
Because of the lady’s resemblance to
Shakespeare’s Ophelia from Hamlet, to
which they both drowned, the painting is
sometimes also referred to as the “Christian
Ophelia”.

Paul Delaroche is a French painter known for his


realistic portraits of historical subjects. His
paintings depict scenes and conflict from English
and French history. Delaroche showcased the influence of Romanticism on him through
his artworks that are full of emotions, he did this following the principles of Academic Art
with the details of his work.

Overall look:
The contrasting colors of the painting highlight the woman’s face as its focal point. The
halo above her head shines a light on the water beneath her, showing that she is
floating on the river. Delaroche gives the woman an angelic illusion with her hands
bound and crossed over her torso. The ascending diagonal composition of the painting
draws the attention of the audience behind the woman to the drifting boat and the
couple in terror above. I assume that it is the people on the boat that drowned the
woman in the river and the couple is her parents witnessing the scene. When I look at
the painting, albeit only on a screen, it gives me a subtle feeling of compassion and
understanding towards the woman. Despite facing death, she is triumphant over her
persecutors as her soul remains unaltered.

Composition:
It may be hard to see on screen, but the fine brush strokes and well-blended colors of
the painting give it a softer effect that is rather calming despite its disturbing content.
The use of oil on canvas perfectly shows the details of the portrait. The heavy dark
tones contrast with the light, softer color and bring harmony to the painting. The light
from the halo above the woman’s face gives her a life-like effect that makes you believe,
for a moment, that she is still alive, making the painting look realistic. The portrait, done
in a medium-sized canvas, renders Delaroche’s intention, I suppose, to make the
painting take your breath away upon seeing it.

References:

MLA format:

Delaroche, Paul. “The Young Martyr.” Aaron Art Prints, 1855, Louvre, Paris,
France, www.aaronartprints.org/delaroche-theyoungmartyr.php.

“Paul Delaroche.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 26 Feb. 2021,


en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Delaroche.

APA format:

Delaroche, P. (1855). The Young Martyr [Oil on canvas] Louvre, Paris, France.
Aaron Art Prints. https://www.aaronartprints.org/delaroche-theyoungmartyr.php.

Wikimedia Foundation. (2021, February 26). Paul Delaroche. Wikipedia.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Delaroche.

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