The Orientals. The Captive
1829
Eugène Devéria created this lively sketch to illustrate 'La Captive,' a poem from his friend Victor Hugo's collection *Les Orientales*. The drawing captures the Romantic fascination with the 'exotic' East, showing a reclining nude woman—presumably the captive—resting while two figures, one in a turban, look on from a tented background. The loose, scribbled lines give the scene a sense of immediacy and raw emotion, typical of the Romantic movement's break from rigid Neoclassical rules.