100 FRANCS DELACROIX (SERIES 1968-1997)

  100 Francs Delacroix (1979-1995)

The 100 Francs bill was designed in 1978 and released into circulation in 1979. It was to replaced the 100 Francs Corneille. As with the 500 Francs Pascal, 50 Francs De La Tour and 10 Francs Berlioz, it was designed by the painter Lucien Fontanarosa (1912-1975). The engravers were Jacques Jubert (1940-), Henri Renaud (1914-1986) and Jacques Combet (1920-1993). The overall tone of the front was yellow, while of the back was brown and green. The note lacks any kind of ornamental decorative designs, which is the defining feature of banknotes designed by Fontanarosa. Its overall outlines give the impression that the main character together with allegories and allusions of details of their lives are like an oil painting, a distinctive feature of French banknotes as compared to bills of other countries, in which faces of the main characters are usually crosshatched. 

Description of the front

On the left side is the portrait of the painter Eugène Delacroix (1798-1863). Beneath him are two paint brushes and a colour palette

Delacroix's portrait in the front

La Liberté guidant le peuple

The real painting

To his left is a fragment of his most famous painting appeared ín 1830, La Liberté guidant le peuple (Liberty guiding the people). Delacroix took his inspiration from the 1830 revolution that toppled the government of Charles X and brought Louis-Philippe to power. The half-naked and bare-breasted woman who raised the tricolour flag of republic France in left hand, while holding a musket with a bayonet in the right hand symbolised liberty (or freedom). She is also the representation of Marianne, a female figure found in French stamps. The little kid who held two pistols in two hands were sometimes identified as Gavroche, a character from Les Miséables (The Miserables) of Victor Hugo. Nevertheless, such an assumption may be challenged by modern art historians.

Description of the front

Portrait of Delacroix in the back

In the back, the same portrait of Delacroix is found on the right side. However, instead of replicating him in exact same position as the front, Fontanarosa led the painter to hold a plune, an allusion to his famous Journal, in which he detailed stories behind his paintings, his influencers such as Rubens and Michelangelo, and events in his time.

House of Delacroix, located in number 6, rue de Furstemberg, Paris

Behind Delacoix, to the left and the right, is the scene of his residence in Furstemberg road in Paris, covered in front by trees. This place now become known as Musée national Eugène-Delacroix (National museum of Eugène-Delacroix). Delacroix settled down in this house in 1857 and lived there until his death. The place was now managed by the Louvre. This house currently holds exhibitions of Delacroix's paintings and information about every phase of his life.

Difference in the description of punishment for counterfeit and falsification

As with the 200 Francs Montesquieu, 20 Francs Debussy, 100 Francs Delacroix features a change in the description of laws that severely punish counterfeiting and falsificating banknotes issued by Banque de France.

Description of law on pre-1994 notes

"Article of 139 of penal code punished with life imprisonment those who who have made counterfeits or falisfied the banknotes of the bank, authorised by the law, as well as those who have made use these counterfeited or falsified bills. Those who would introduce these bills in France would endure the same punishment."

Description of law on 1994 and 1995-issued notes

"The counterfeiting and falsification of bills of the bank and the act of putting them into circulations of these counterfeit or falsified bills are punished by the article 442-1 and 442-2 of penal code, with punishment that can go up to 30 years of life imprisonment and 3 millions francs of fine.