Lion Hunt

Lion Hunt — Eugène Delacroix. 1860–61.

Medium: Oil on canvas. Dimensions: 76.5 × 98.5 cm (30 × 38 1/2 in.); Framed: 105.5 × 125.8 cm (41 1/2 × 49 1/2 in.).

Collection record: Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago. Museum connection according to this source; current display unverified.

In 1832 Eugène Delacroix joined a diplomatic envoy to French-colonized Algeria. The sights and experiences from this six-month journey fueled the rest of his career, lending his canvases an illusion of accuracy that his less-traveled competitors lacked. The artist expressed in his journals from abroad his admiration for Arab culture, even characterizing it as superior to that of post-revolutionary France. Nevertheless, in paintings like this he catered to violent European fantasies about the Arab world. Having never witnessed a lion hunt, Delacroix skillfully synthesized studies of landscapes, Islamic costume, and zoo animals to bring this narrative to life with theatrical intensity.

Description: © Art Institute of Chicago, original record, CC BY 4.0. HTML formatting removed; wording retained. Other artwork metadata: CC0.

Source: official collection record. Metadata selected and normalized by Artline from the source export, accessed 10 September 2026; no museum endorsement. Reproduction rights are separate.