Lion of the Atlas Mountains

1829·Lithograph in black on light-gray China paper laid down on ivory wove paper (chine collé)·Image: 33 × 46.5 cm (13 × 18 5/16 in.); Sheet: 47 × 62.5 cm (18 9/16 × 24 5/8 in.)

<p>Delacroix’s largest pair of pendant prints features a monumental lion (seen here) and a <a href="https://www.artic.edu/artworks/41095">regal tiger (1927.1645)</a>, presented in a kind of face-off. Ancient Roman games regularly pitted Barbary lions and Bengal tigers against each other. Into the late 19th century, they were still made occasional enemies for entertainment and profit, as in one heavily wagered bout to the death in India. While this particular big cat may appear passive compared with the ravening lion, the tiger usually triumphed in these showdowns.</p>

Catalogue

Year: 1829
Medium: Lithograph in black on light-gray China paper laid down on ivory wove paper (chine collé)
Dimensions: Image: 33 × 46.5 cm (13 × 18 5/16 in.); Sheet: 47 × 62.5 cm (18 9/16 × 24 5/8 in.)
Collection: Art Institute of Chicago
Artist: Eugene Delacroix

Artist

Eugene Delacroix

Painting

Born in 1789 in Paris, French Romantic painter Eugéne Delacroix received his early training from Pierre Guérin in a classicist vein. While that approach would have little effect on Delacroix’s ultimate artistic development, it was through this connection that he met the painter Théodore Gericault, creator of the masterwork Raft of the Medusa, 1818–19, a work for which Delacroix posed. Ultimately, Delacroix drew most of his inspiration from the plethora of art available for him to study at the Louvre. He was also exposed to a wide of array of literature, including the writing of Shakespeare, Byron, and Scott. It was those literary sources that would ultimately be the catalyst to Delacroix’s full embrace of Romanticism, despite the growing popularity of Neoclassicism.

Charenton-Saint-Maurice, France

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