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Morocco: Eugene Delacroix, 'The Fanatics of Tangier', 1838, by Eugene Delacroix.

Morocco: Eugene Delacroix, 'The Fanatics of Tangier', 1838, by Eugene Delacroix.

Eugène Delacroix was the acknowledged master of the French Romantic school. In 1832, he traveled to North Africa with the French ambassador, Count de Mornay, who was to negotiate a treaty of friendship with the sultan of Morocco. One day in Tangier, the two hid in an attic and through the cracks of a shuttered window witnessed the frenzy of the Aïssaouas,' a fanatical Muslim sect'. The Aissawa is a religious and mystical brotherhood. It was founded in Meknès, Morocco by Muhammad Ben Aïssâ (1465–1526). In fact the Aissawa are not generally known for fanaticism, but for spiritualism and music.

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