Esquisse pour le salon de la Paix à l'Hôtel de Ville de Paris : Minerve

Sketch for the Salon de la Paix showing Minerva from 1850 at the Musee de la Ville de Paris documents Delacroix's preparation for his decorative program at the Hotel de Ville. These public commissions represented his most ambitious works. Delacroix executed the work with his characteristic broken, energetic brushwork and rich colorism, building up his surfaces in ways that directly influenced the Impressionists who studied his technique at the Louvre after his death.

The sketch shows the allegorical figure developed with characteristic energy. Delacroix's dynamic handling reveals his approach to decorative composition.