A man of letters in meditation, Eugène Delacroix, 1821

Satire on the académie française and the société des bonnes lettres, including the elitist and political nature of academic nominations; in an opulent interior evoking the ancien régime, an old man wearing an éteignoir-shaped nightcap, lies slumped in an armchair; he rests one foot carelessly on two books - voltaire's 'dictionnaire philosophique' and rousseau's 'émile'; in a corner, in front of a crest-laden family tree, a wig on a stand and a sword (accessories of a nobleman and of an academician) and on the wall, pictures of an auto-da-fé and a portrait of the duke of marlborough; other symbols include a candle with snuffer, books in piles, and a letter on the floor addressed to "monsieur bonhomme, rue de grammaire, maison des. . "; published in 'miroir' in 1821 lithograph. Date: 1821. Dimensions: Height: 177 mm; Width: 220 mm. Medium: paper. Depicted People: Académie Française. Collection: British Museum. Un bonhomme de lettres en meditation (BM 1987,0516.33)