Tiger Resting

Pierre Andrieu's Tiger Resting from around 1845 continues the tradition of animal painting that Delacroix had elevated to a major genre of Romantic art. Andrieu, as Delacroix's most trusted studio assistant, had unique access to the master's working methods and his studies of exotic animals at the Jardin des Plantes in Paris. The resting tiger combines the Romantic fascination with wild nature with careful observation of animal anatomy and behavior.

Andrieu's oil-on-canvas technique renders the tiger with the broad, fluid brushwork and rich warm palette characteristic of Delacroix's circle. The careful observation of the animal's powerful form at rest demonstrates the Romantic commitment to combining direct study of nature with expressive painterly technique.