Copy after Delacroix, The Barque of Dante. Sketch.

Laurits Tuxen's 'Copy after Delacroix, The Barque of Dante' (1887) is a study copy after one of the most celebrated works of French Romanticism — Delacroix's 'Barque of Dante' (1822) was the work that announced Romanticism's arrival in French painting, its turbulent color and dramatic emotional content marking a decisive departure from Neoclassical restraint. Tuxen's copy of this celebrated work reflects the academic practice of studying the masters through copying, and his engagement with Delacroix's most famous early work connected him to the French Romantic tradition's most significant moment.

Tuxen renders the Delacroix copy with the respect and technical attention that copying a celebrated master work demanded — his handling adapting to the specific qualities of Delacroix's original (the turbulent color, the dramatic chiaroscuro, and the expressive brushwork of the Romantic master) while reflecting his own technical vocabulary. The copy format allowed him to study Delacroix's compositional and coloristic solutions at close range, the act of copying itself a form of technical education.