Eugène Delacroix’s etching, “Tiger Lying in the Desert” (2nd impression), c1846

Eugène Delacroix (aka Ferdinand Victor Eugène Delacroix) (1798–1863)

“Tiger Lying in the Desert” (aka “Tigre Couché dans le Désert”), c1846, printed by Auguste Delâtre (1822–1907) and published in “L'Artiste" in its sixth and final state on 1^st January 1870 (plate insert between pages 56 and 57) in Paris. This impression is from the published state in “L'Artiste.”

Etching with roulette, drypoint, foul-biting, sandpaper scratches and burnishing on wove paper with full margins as published.

Size: (sheet) 29 x 44.5 cm; (plate) 9.2 x 13.5 cm; (image borderline) 7.4 x 12.5 cm.

Inscribed on plate below the image borderline: (left) “Eug. Delacroix”; (right) “Imp. Delâtre, Paris".

State vi (of vi), published state with the printer’s publication details.

Delteil/Strauber 24 vi (Loys Delteil, Susan Strauber [transl. & rev.] 1997, “Delacroix: The Graphic Work: A Catalogue Raisonné”, San Francisco, Alan Wofsy Fine Arts, pp. 60–63, cat. no. 24); IFF 22 (Département des Estampes 1930–, “Inventaire du Fonds Francais Après 1800”, vol. 6, Paris, Bibliothèque Nationale de France, p. 122, cat. no. 22).

The British Museum offers the following description of this print from an earlier state:

“In the centre foreground, with head on ground and paws in front and to one side; dunes in the background”

(https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/P_1862-1011-682).

See also the descriptions of this print offered by the Rijksmuseum:

http://hdl.handle.net/10934/RM0001.COLLECT.102950 & http://hdl.handle.net/10934/RM0001.COLLECT.102949.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art offers the following very interesting insights regarding the time that Delacroix executed this print:

“Eugène Delacroix worked alongside the artist Antoine-Louis Barye (1796–1875) on numerous animal studies between 1828–1830 in the Jardin des Plantes in Paris. During this time, he studied the anatomy of cats in detail, even observing their dissections, which resulted in successful works on paper and paintings depicting tigers in the years to follow. His contemporary Théophile Gautier (1811–1872) once likened the artist to his subject matter: ‘He was mellow, soft as velvet, seductive as one of those tigers whose extraordinary supple grace he excelled in rendering.’"

(https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/337305).

Condition: a richly-inked impression with a fleck above the tiger. The sheet has with full margins as published and is in pristine condition.

Note that this is the second impression of this print that I have listed. The previous impression has been sold.

I am selling this rare etching executed by the hand of Delacroix (as opposed to prints by other artists after Delacroix’s design), for the total cost of AU$483 (currently US$331.30/EUR325.37/GBP275.26 at the time of posting this print) including Express Mail (EMS) postage and handling to anywhere in the world, but not (of course) any import duties/taxes imposed by some countries.

If you are interested in purchasing this small etching by Delacroix that not only exemplifies his intense fascination with tigers, but also reveals in the portrayed animal’s “supple grace”, something of the artist’s own “mellow, soft as velvet” disposition—as proposed by Théophile Gautier (see MET description of this print)—please contact me (oz_jim@printsandprinciples.com) and I will send you a PayPal invoice to make the payment easy.

This print has been sold

Antoine-Louis Barye’s etching, “Lion with Serpent”

Antoine-Louis Barye (1796–1875)

“Lion with Serpent”, c1833, based on the design of Barye’s sculpture “Lion au serpent (Lion des Tuileries)”, c1833 (see: http://www.louvre.fr/oeuvre-notices/lion-au-serpent)  

Etching and roulette on fine wove paper trimmed on the lower plate mark

Size: (sheet) 12.7 x 21.7 cm; (plate) 11.6 (?) x 17.6 cm

Inscribed (lower left) “BARYE sculpt” and (lower right) “F. S. Ag. f.” (Note that my deciphering of the right inscription may be incorrect as the lettering is not clear.)

Delteil VI

Condition: This is a delicate but well-printed impression of exceptional rarity. There is a collector’s stamp and a pencil inscription “Salmon […] at the lower right margin (recto). The sheet has two tiny tears (.5 cm) on the left edge and there is a small diamond-shaped stain on the upper-right plate-mark. The verso has pencil notations from former collectors.

I am selling this rare print from the master’s hand for AU$148 (currently US$111.93/EUR101.45/GBP86.51 at the time of posting this print) including postage and handling to anywhere in the world.

If you are interested in purchasing this original Barye etching featuring what is arguably his most famous sculptural theme, please contact me (oz_jim@printsandprinciples.com) and I will send you a PayPal invoice to make the payment easy.

This print has been sold

There are many copies of Barye’s work made by other artists—even Charles Jacque reproduced several of Barye’s drawings—but very few etchings are inscribed in the plate as having been executed by the artist himself. This is a work of the utmost rarity! In fact, I could not find other etchings by the hand of Barye (rather than copies made by other artists) available on the web with which I could compare this print; not even the British Museum—my favourite museum for print research—could assist me with prints by Barye himself.

Although this etching is clearly drawn from Barye’s own very famous sculpture of a lion engaged in battle with a snake (“Lion au Serpent”) displayed in the Tuileries Gardens, Paris, the line work has a life or its own that goes beyond the sculpture depicted. By this I mean that close examination of the interwoven lines of hatching and roulette dots are like an artist feeling the lion’s form from within the animal rather than describing the outside effects of the animal’s musculature from superficial observation. In short, this is a real sculptor’s drawing showing how the internal dynamics of a subject creates superficial form.