One of the most ambitious and revealing of Hilton's late gouaches Sardanapulus after Delacroix, possesses an extreme degree of projection and self-identification that transforms this homage to Delacroix into an autobiographical painting that serves as a fantastic self-portrait. In a lengthy analysis of this painting Adrian Lewis writes:

`One death bed image is particularly revealing. It is a reprise of Delacroix's Death of Sardanapalus (1927-28, Louvre), but Delacroix's interest in the theme of aloof unconcern at the destruction of worldly power and wealth is not the same as Hilton's. Sardanapaulus is undressed and sexually tweaked, surrounded only by female figures whose extended arms constitute (along with the circular forms) projections of frustrated sexual feeling.. Sardanapulus after Delacroix is also interesting in connecting Hilton with models of cultural behaviour from early modern French culture. The epitaph on Sardanapulus's tomb supposedly read: ` I have eaten, drunk and amused myself, and I have always considered everything worth no more than a fillip'. Sardanapulus after Delacroix indexes Hilton to cultural themes of the feather bed of debauchery and the philosophical `dandy'.'