The Massacre at Chios

Delacroix's The Massacre at Chios of 1824 was his first major Salon success, depicting the 1822 massacre in which Ottoman forces killed or enslaved most of the Greek island's population in response to the Greek War of Independence. The painting caused a sensation: its vast scale, its frank depiction of suffering, and its loose, colorful handling — which Gros compared to a massacre of painting — challenged the Davidian neoclassical orthodoxy. Lord Byron was already a symbol of Philhellenic romanticism, and Delacroix's canvas made the Greek cause visually compelling to French liberals who saw in Greece their own struggle for liberty.

The panoramic composition groups suffering figures against a bleak landscape, using a palette of dusty earth tones and muted flesh. Delacroix reportedly reworked the painting after seeing Constable's Hay Wain, adding freer, more luminous touches to the sky.