Lion Nursing Cubs

Description

From 1852 to 1854, Delacroix’s journal entries show that he studied felines in the zoo at the Paris Jardin des Plantes, or Botanical Garden. His numerous studies of lions and tigers reflect his fascination with the exotic, and culminate in his great paintings of hunts executed from 1854 to 1861. The present sketch, however, was a study for a design that was reproduced by a wood engraver in the popular journal Magasin Pittoresque, which aimed to show typical scenes of life in exotic lands as well as in Paris itself. The sheet reveals Delacroix’s habit of repeating the motif with slight variations to capture the momentary movements of the lioness and her offspring. The drawing shows him searching for the most apt contours and attitudes to express the nervous vivacity of the beast and the imminent and inevitable battle that will ensue.