Eugène Delacroix, Moroccan horseman crossing a ford, c. 1850 by Atelier Liesjes

Dramatically lit and heroically isolated, a Moroccan horseman, fist raised, storms across a ford, his horse prancing as it reaches the riverbank. Behind them stretches a vast plain where another lone horseman gallops towards a military encampment. The two prancing horses echo each other, just as the tail of the front horse repeats the shape of the weeds on the riverbank.
In the background, under a turbulent sky, lies a chain of dark mountains.

Delacroix drew inspiration for this painting from his trip to Morocco in 1832, during which he feverishly took notes and made numerous sketches and watercolours. The horsemen he encountered in Morocco were among his favourite subjects. As his writings show, Delacroix saw in them a living incarnation of the noble spirit and terrible willpower he associated with the heroes of antiquity. He designed this small-scale painting for private contemplation, signalling a general retreat into a more subjective realm of exoticism and fantasy.

Ferdinand Victor Eugene Delacroix (Charenton-Saint Maurice, France, 26 April 1798 - Paris, 13 August 1863) is considered the most important French painter of Romanticism (hence he is sometimes called "Le prince des romantiques"). He is also called a "literary painter".