Artwork
Young Tiger Playing with its Mother (Jeune tigre jouant avec sa mère)
Young Tiger Playing with its Mother (Jeune tigre jouant avec sa mère) is an ink print by the Romanticist artist Eugène Delacroix. It dates from 1831 and is held in the collection of the National Gallery of Art.
About this work
Overview
Eugène Delacroix produced the lithograph *Young Tiger Playing with its Mother* in 1831. Executed as a print from a stone matrix, the image presents a mother tiger and her cub within a dimly lit forest setting, rendered with loose, dark outlines that convey a sense of untamed nature.
Subject & Meaning
The composition centers on the intimate interaction between the two felines: the mother lies relaxed on the forest floor while the cub reaches up, pawing at her face in a playful gesture. This focus on animal affection reflects Romantic interests in emotion and the vitality of the natural world.
Technique & Style
Delacroix employed lithography, a process that captures the artist’s hand‑drawn lines on a prepared stone surface before transferring them to paper. The work’s vigorous, expressive strokes and emphasis on movement echo the artist’s admiration for the dynamic colour and form of Rubens and the Venetian Renaissance, though rendered here in monochrome.
History & Provenance
Created early in Delacroix’s career, the print aligns with his broader Romantic output that favored dramatic scenes over classical restraint. While specific ownership details are limited, the lithograph remains part of the artist’s documented print series from the 1830s.
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Artist & collection
Artist
Ferdinand Victor Eugène Delacroix ( DEL-ə-krwah, -KRWAH; French: ; 26 April 1798 – 13 August 1863) was a French Romantic artist who was regarded as the leader of the French Romantic school.
