The extraordinary significance that music holds for Delacroix, and which contributes most to his admiration for Chopin, is a symptom of the new hierarchy of the arts and the prominent position which music occupies in it. It is the romantic art par excellence and Chopin the most romantic of all the romantics. In his relation to Chopin, Delacroix's intimate connection with romanticism is brought most clearly to light.

Chapter 6. German and Western Romanticism - The Social History of Art, Volume III. Rococo, Classicism and Romanticism, 1999