Madame Henri François Riesener (Félicité Longrois, 1786–1847)

Madame Henri François Riesener (Félicité Longrois, 1786–1847) by Eugène Delacroix is an intimate oil on canvas portrait created in 1835. The sitter, Félicité Longrois, was the wife of Delacroix's lifelong friend and fellow painter, Henri François Riesener. This work is classified among Delacroix's finest portraits of women, offering a deeply personal and immediate depiction that contrasts sharply with the dramatic historical subjects for which the artist is widely known.

The medium of oil on canvas facilitates the lively brushwork and deep coloration central to the French Romantic style prevalent in the 1830s. Delacroix uses loose, energetic handling of paint to define the contours of Madame Riesener’s figure and clothing, achieving both textural variation and psychological depth. Rather than a formal, idealized representation, this piece captures the sitter's individual personality and contemporary style, emphasizing the artist's ability to transition seamlessly between epic narratives and quiet, domestic studies.

Delacroix’s mastery of the genre is evident in the sensitive rendering of the face and the controlled application of shadow, highlighting the internal life of the subject. The resulting portrait is recognized for its warmth and sensitivity, confirming the artist’s stature as a key figure of nineteenth-century Romanticism. Prints and studies of the painting are frequently consulted by art historians examining Delacroix’s technique outside of his public commissions. This significant example of French painting resides in the permanent collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.