Lion

Engraving by H. Toussaint, after the painting by Eugène Delacroix. 

Black and white etching on wove paper.
Plate mark visible. 
Image size: 16.5 × 23.5 cm (approx.)

This dramatic engraving, entitled Lion attaqué, reproduces a composition by Eugène Delacroix, one of the foremost exponents of French Romanticism. The plate is engraved by H. Toussaint, whose name appears at lower right, while the inscription at lower left reads “Eug. Delacroix pinx.”, indicating the original painted source.

The composition depicts a lion caught in a moment of violent tension amid a rugged, mountainous landscape. The animal, rendered with vigorous linework and dense cross-hatching, crouches low to the ground, its muscular body twisting as it turns its head in alarm. The mane, treated with animated, almost turbulent strokes, reinforces the Romantic emphasis on movement and expressive force. The surrounding terrain—rocky outcrops and distant crags—creates a stark, elemental setting that heightens the drama of the scene.

Characteristic of Delacroix’s fascination with wild animals and untamed nature, the subject evokes both physical struggle and psychological intensity. The Romantic preoccupation with the sublime and the raw power of nature is evident in the contrast between the lion’s straining body and the austere, expansive landscape. Toussaint’s engraving skillfully translates Delacroix’s painterly dynamism into a language of etched line, preserving the tonal depth and emotional immediacy of the original.

Such prints after Delacroix were produced in the nineteenth century to disseminate the master’s compositions to a wider audience, reflecting both the popularity of animal subjects and the broader European interest in Romantic naturalism.

A finely executed reproductive engraving after one of Delacroix’s celebrated animal subjects, exemplifying the dramatic sensibility and technical refinement of mid-nineteenth-century French printmaking.