For almost 200 years, she has been the definitive symbol of the French republic. Now, after a much-needed facelift, Eugène Delacroix’s Liberty Leading the People will rise above the fray of revolutionary anarchy in her true colours once more.
The 19th-century painter’s world-famous and widely copied Liberty Leading the People, depicting a bare-chested woman brandishing the French flag and leading armed men into battle, will be hung again at the Louvre art museum on Thursday, after a six-month effort to remove decades of varnish and grime.