Collection: Paul Delaroche

Hippolyte-Paul Delaroche (17 July 1797 – 4 November 1856) was a French painter known for his depiction of scenes from English and French history. The emotions emphasised in Delaroche's paintings appeal to Romanticism while the detail of his work along with the deglorified portrayal of historic figures follow the trends of Academicism and Neoclassicism. Delaroche aimed to depict his subjects and history with pragmatic realism.

He did not consider popular ideals and norms in his creations, but rather painted all his subjects in the same light whether they were historical figures like Marie-Antoinette, figures of Christianity, or people of his time like Napoleon Bonaparte. Delaroche was a leading pupil of Antoine-Jean Gros and later mentored a number of notable artists such as Thomas Couture, Jean-Léon Gérôme, and Jean-François Millet. Delaroche was born into a generation that saw the stylistic conflicts between Romanticism and Davidian Classicism.

Davidian Classicism was widely accepted and enjoyed by society so as a developing artist at the time of the introduction of Romanticism in Paris, Delaroche found his place between the two movements. Subjects from Delaroche's medieval and sixteenth and seventeenth-century history paintings appealed to Romantics while the accuracy of information along with the highly finished surfaces of his paintings appealed to Academics and Neoclassicism.

He studied under Louis Etienne Watelet and Antoine-Jean Gros. Among his canonical works are The Assassination of the Duke of Guise, Charles I Insulted by Cromwell's Soldiers, Bonaparte Crossing the Alps, and The Execution of Lady Jane Grey. His oeuvre belongs more precisely to the French Romanticism current.