Charles-François Delacroix

Template:Short description Charles-François Delacroix (; or Lacroix; 15 April 1741 – 26 October 1805) was a French statesman who became Minister of Foreign Affairs under the Directory. The painter Eugène Delacroix was his fourth son, although doubts have been cast on his paternity.

Early life

Charles-François Delacroix was born in Givry-en-Argonne on 15 April 1741. He married Victoire Oëbène, daughter of the cabinet-maker Jean-François Oeben. Victoire's uncle Henri-François Riesener was a distinguished painter. They had four children.Template:Sfn Charles-Henri Delacroix (9 January 1779 – 30 December 1845) became a soldier, and rose to the rank of General in the Napoleonic army.Template:Sfn Henriette was born in 1780.Template:Sfn She married the diplomat Raymond de Verninac Saint-Maur (1762–1822).Template:Sfn Henri was born six year later. He was killed at the Battle of Friedland on 14 June 1807. The youngest child was the future painter Eugène Delacroix (1798–1863).Template:Sfn

When Eugène was born the gossip in Paris had it that Delacroix had been succeeded in his bed by the man who had succeeded him at his desk, Maurice de Talleyrand.Template:Sfn On 13 September 1797, the surgeon Imbert-Delonnes removed a "monstrous tumor" of twenty-eight pounds, in which were tangled "the most delecate masculine organs". The tumor apparently would have rendered him impotent.Template:Sfn Whatever the truth, it seems certain that Charles was sent away to the Hague to avoid the gossip.Template:Sfn

Career

Delacroix was secretary to Anne-Robert-Jacques Turgot, Baron de Laune (1727–1781), Minister of Finance during the reign of Louis XVI of France. During the French Revolution (1789–1799), he became a deputy to the National Convention and voted for the death of the king.Template:Sfn Delacroix and Georges Danton interrogated Dumouriez, who was accused in March 1793 in Belgium dealing with the Austrians without permission of the Convention. In 1793 Delacroix proposed to the Convention to confiscate the metal statuary at Versailles and melt it down to make cannon. The proposal was rejected after some debate.Template:Sfn

Delacroix joined the Thermidorian Reaction.Template:Sfn He was appointed French Minister of Foreign Affairs between 3 November 1795 and 15 July 1797 before being replaced by Talleyrand.Template:Sfn On 2 December 1797 he became a special envoy (ambassador) to the Batavian Republic. In January 1798 he advised Herman Willem Daendels in his coup d'état against a group of federalists in the Dutch National Convention. In 1799, he became the first prefect in the Bouches-du-Rhône and in 1803 in the Gironde.Template:Sfn

Delacroix died in Bordeaux on 26 October 1805.Template:Sfn When his wife, Victoire Oeben, died in 1814 it was found that his family estate was fully mortgaged, and his attorney had been stealing from it. Rather than being worth 800,000 francs as thought, the estate was in debt by 175,000 francs.Template:Sfn

A monument to Delacroix stands in the Chartreuse cemetery in Bordeaux.Template:Sfn

References

Citations

Sources

External links

• Eugène Delacroix (1798-1863): Paintings, Drawings, and Prints from North American Collections, a full text exhibition catalog from The Metropolitan Museum of Art
• https://web.archive.org/web/20080517081523/http://www.documents-anciens.com/fiche-181.html
• https://web.archive.org/web/20110716234551/http://www.recherche.fr/encyclopedie/Proc%C3%A8s_de_Georges_Danton_et_des_dantonistes
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