Works

Delacroix depicted the theme ›lion and snake‹ a number of times at the beginning of the 1850s. The small format paintings are often works showing a conflict between the two animals. Delacroix varied the movements and pose of their bodies, thus finding for the various forms of aggression and violence a corresponding expression in the bodies of the animals and in the state of the struggle. The lion grips the snake with its two paws and presses it down with its entire weight. The effort required to overcome the reptile, in spite of its physical superiority, because the snake’s winding body is difficult to capture, is visible in the lion’s tension and its open mouth. Moreover, the lion is pressing with its hind legs in order to apply its entire strength. For this depiction, Delacroix was able to draw on numerous individual studies of live animals which he had sketched in the ›Jardin des Plantes‹ in Paris.