The Lion in His Lair

  • Artist: Eugène Delacroix
  • Creation date: (1847)
  • Object type: Painting

On display: Room 054 The Collection Exhibition - A revolution in painting

About

The lion has just killed a hunter, who is seen on the ground with the beast on top of him. The hunter has evidently been surprised in the bush, as his unfired gun still lies in front of him. The wild lion and the man’s swarthy complexion and red turban locate the episode to North Africa, where Barbary lions could still be found in the mid-nineteenth century. With his claws planted in the hunter’s bloodied chest, the male lion now guards its prey. The composition is simple, with few elements giving away the action, time, or location. The tones are dark and earthy, with a few brighter dabs of red and blue.

Eugène Delacroix mentions the work in his diary for 29 March 1847: “Yesterday I started working on The Lion and the Dead Man again. I managed to tidy it up so much that I now feel like completing it.” The scene in the picture stems from an expedition Delacroix went on to Morocco in 1832. Similar to many other of the era’s romantic artists, he was fascinated by Oriental and exotic locales. In Morocco he found scenes and images that would feature heavily in his paintings for the rest of his life, not least the clash between wild animals and people, between the forces of nature and civilization – and it is often the former that are victorious in his pictures. In large, colourful paintings from the 1840s and 1850s, lions, tigers, and hunters on horseback fight to the death, but Delacroix himself had probably never seen such scenes in reality, nor even wild animals in their natural habitat. Instead, he used detailed studies of animals in zoos and of the people and material culture of North Africa to create his bloodcurdling pictures.

Text: Frithjof Bringager

From "Highlights. Art from Antiquity to 1945", Nasjonalmuseet 2014, ISBN 978-82-8154-088-0

Artist/producer

Eugène Delacroix

Visual artist

Born 1798 in Charenton, death 1863 in Paris, Frankrike

Work info

Creation date:
(1847)
Other titles:
Le lion dans son antre (FRE)
Løven i sin hule (NOR)
Lion et l'Homme mort (FRE)
Object type:
Materials and techniques:
Olje på lerret
Material:
Dimensions:
  • Width: 65.7 cm
  • Height: 54.4 cm
  • Depth: 2.1 cm
Keywords:
Classification:
Motif:
Motif - type:
Inventory no.:
NG.M.01178
Cataloguing level:
Single object
Litteratur:
  • Messel, Nils. Franske forbindelser: Kunst, kapital og konjunkturer i Norge rundt 1. verdenskrig. Oslo: Messel Forlag, 2016. 138–9
  • Nasjonalmuseet : høydepunkter : kunst fra antikken til 1945,. Oslo: Nasjonalmuseet for kunst, arkitektur og design, 2014. 73
  • Stuffmann, Margret, red. Eugène Delacroix: Themen und Variationen: Arbeiten auf Papier. Frankfurt am Main: Städtische Galerie im Städelschen Kunstinstitut, 1987.
    222; ill. I 30a
  • Johnson, Lee. The paintings of Eugène Delacroix : a critical catalogue : 3 : 1832-1863. Johnson, Lee The paintings of Eugène Delacroix. Oxford: Clarendon, 1986. 12–3; kat.nr. 178
  • Østby,  Leif, red. Katalog over utenlandsk malerkunst : med 153 illustrasjoner. Oslo: Nasjonalgalleriet, 1973. 210
  • Bortolatto, Luigi Rossi. L’Opera Pittorica Completa Di Delacroix. Classici dell’arte. Milano: Rizzoli, 1972. 17; kat.nr. 500
  • Willoch, Sigurd. Nasjonalgalleriets venner: kunst i 50 år. Oslo: Nasjonalgalleriets venner, 1967. 14, 100, nr. 3
  • Mras, George P. Eugene Delacroix’s theory of art. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1966. 25, 28 nr. 60; fig. 9
  • Johnson, Lee. «Delacroix et les Salons. Documents inédits au Louvre». Revue du Louvre XVI (1966). 226
  • Rudrauf, Lucien. «De la bête à l’ange: les étapes de la lutte vitale dans la pensée et l’art d’Eugène Delacroix». Acta historiae artium 9 (1963): 295–341. 316, fig. 9
  • Mæhle, Ole. Streiftog og glimt: fra Kunstnerforbundets første 50 år. Oslo: Gyldendal, 1960. 57
  • Franske malere: 56 reproduksjoner. Oslo: Nasjonalgalleriet, 1959. 11
  • Christoffel, Ulrich. Eugène Delacroix. München: F. Bruckmann, 1951. 136
  • Thiis, Jens. «Eugène Delacroix: Et avsnit av hans liv.» Kunst: gammel og ny, 1937, 149–84. 152, 156–8
  • Lexow, Einar. Romantikken og den nyere tid. Verdens kunsthistorie V. Oslo: Aschehoug, 1935. 41
  • Jamot, Paul. «L’art français en Norvège». La Renaissance 2, nr. 2 (1929): 69–106. 84–5
  • Meier-Graefe, Julius. Eugène Delacroix: Beiträge zu einer Analyse. München: R. Piper, 1922. 178
  • Thiis, Jens. «Eugène Delacroix: Et avsnit av hans liv. I anledning av Nationalgalleriets nyerhvervede billeder». Kunst og kultur 7 (1918): 1–27. 8–11
  • Moreau-Nélaton, Étienne. Delacroix, raconté par lui-même: etude biographique d’après ses lettres, son journal, etc. : 2. Paris: Henri Laurens, 1916. 76, 194; fig. 278
  • Meier-Graefe, Julius. Entwicklungsgeschichte der modernen Kunst: 1. München: Piper, 1914. 146
  • Reboussin, Roger. «Les Animaux dans l’œuvre d’Eugène Delacroix». L’art et les artistes, Tome XVIII, 1914, 201–10. 204, 209
  • Meier-Graefe, Julius. Eugène Delacroix: Beiträge zu einer Analyse. München: R. Piper, 1913. 203 (pl.)
  • Saint-Luc. «La Collection Lutz». Les Arts, nr. 4 (1902). 31
  • Delacroix, Eugène. Journal de Eugène Delacroix : 1 : 1823-1850 ; précédé d’une étude sur le maitre par Paul Flat. Paris: Plon, 1893. 292
  • Robaut, Alfred. L’oeuvre complet de Eugène Delacroix: peintures, dessins, gravures, lithographies. Paris: Charavay frères, 1885. kat.nr. 1017
  • Moreau, Adolphe. E. Delacroix et son oeuvre. Paris: Librairie des bibliophiles, 1873. 184, 278 note 1
  • Gautier, Théophile. «Tableaux de l’école moderne». Le Moniteur Universel, 6. februar, 1860.
  • Astruc, Zacharie. Le salon intime: exposition au boulevard des Italiens. Paris: Poulet-Malassis et DeBroise, 1860. 37– 8
  • Silvestre, Théophile. Histoire des artistes vivants: français et étrangers : études d’après nature. Paris: E. Blanchard, 1856. 81, 84
  • Thoré, Théophile. «Salon de 1848». Le Constitutionnel, 17. mars, 1848.
  • Du Pays, Augustin Joseph. «Beaux‐Arts – Salon de 1848». L’Illustration, 8. april 11, nr. 267 (1848): 89.
  • Montlaur, Eugène de. «Salon de 1848». Le Salut Public, 8. april, 1848.
  • Haussard, Prosper. «Beaux-Arts. Salon de 1848». Le National, 23. mars, 1848.
  • Clément de Ris, Louis. «Salon de 1848». L’Artiste, 26. mars, 1848. 59
  • Saint-Victor, Paul de. «Exposition de 1848». La Semaine, 26. mars, nr. 22 (1848).
  • Lagenevais, F. de [Frédéric de Mercey]. Le Salon de 1848. Revue des Deux Mondes. 15.04., 1848. 292
  • Gautier, Théophile. «Salon de 1848 (4. article)». La Presse, 26. april, 1848.
  • Jan, L. «Salon de 1848». Le Siècle, 11. april, 1848.
Inscriptions:
Primary, Inscription, nede høyre: Eug. Delacroix
Acquisition:
Gift from the Friends of the National Gallery 1918
Provenance:
[35] Dealer, Walther Halvorsen
[40] Previous owner, van Isaker
[40] Previous owner, Jourdan
[40] Previous owner, Monjean
[40] Previous owner, Baron de Gunzberg, assumed certain
[40] Previous owner, Defoer, assumed certain
[40] Previous owner, Georges Lütz
[40] Previous owner, Galerie Bernheim-Jeune
Owner and collection:
Nasjonalmuseet for kunst, arkitektur og design, The Fine Art Collections
Photo:
Ivarsøy, Dag Andre