A Hunter Stalking a Lion in the Mountains of North Africa
Eugène Delacroix French
Delacroix’s six-month voyage to North Africa in 1832—facilitated by the French invasion of Algeria—fueled his imagination for the remainder of his career. This signed, finished pastel, a rarity in the artist’s oeuvre, stages a suspenseful scene in a landscape inspired by the Atlas Mountains. In the foreground, a hunter crouches on a rocky outcrop. With poised tension, he watches a lion, who appears ready to disappear over the ridge in the distance at any moment. The echo between their four-legged postures invites comparison between man and his prey. The expressive pose as well as the execution, which integrated Delacroix’s technique as a draftsman with painterly layering of color, surely appealed to the former owner of this work, the artist Edgar Degas.
Due to rights restrictions, this image cannot be enlarged, viewed at full screen, or downloaded.