Everyone knows about French artist Eugène Delacroix, who painted so many works which later became iconic that his value to Fine Art (not to mention civilization) is pretty much unchallenged.
Liberty Leading The People
And yes, many feel that he was the bridge, artistically speaking, between Classical and Romantic art and is therefore Very Important:
Massacre At Chios
Me, I just like the way he painted women:
Mademoiselle Rose
Death of Sardanapelus
Medea About To Kill Her Children
Greece Expiring on the Ruins of Missolonghi
Louis of Orleans Revealing His Mistress
Delacroix’s style, to my eyes anyway, changes from piece to piece, from Classical to Romantic to almost-Impressionist — all depending on the topic he’s depicting. Heck, the Louis of Orleans painting above is almost Rococo in its playfulness.
And considering that he lived and worked during the hidebound early nineteenth century, that is one hell of an achievement.
Barque of Dante
Didn’t France print Liberty Leading the People on the back of their ten Franc note sometime in the (relatively) recent past?