Crouching Tiger

Crouching Tiger is a powerful drawing created by Eugène Delacroix in 1839. This preparatory study, executed in pen and brush and iron gall ink, captures the fluid strength and coiled energy of a large feline. Delacroix, the paramount figure of the French Romantic school, held a lifelong fascination with exotic animals, viewing lions and tigers as potent symbols of untamed nature and dramatic intensity.

The composition isolates the animal in profile, allowing the artist to focus entirely on its musculature and posture. Delacroix employs the pen to delineate sharp contours and structural details, while the brush and washes of iron gall ink provide rich tonal variation, creating deep shadows and emphasizing the texture of the animal’s coat. This technique highlights the tiger’s immense physical tension, suggesting a moment of intense anticipation or repose just before action. The spontaneous and expressive quality of the drawing is characteristic of the Romantic period’s emphasis on emotion and dynamism over classical restraint.

Delacroix’s extensive studies of Tigers and other wild animals, many of which were done in the Jardin des Plantes menagerie in Paris, served as crucial source material for his monumental oil paintings, particularly those referencing hunting scenes or Orientalist themes.

This important drawing, which showcases Delacroix’s observational skills and mastery of ink, resides in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. As a seminal work from the nineteenth century, it is frequently reproduced, and high-quality prints derived from the original often enter the public domain, allowing wide accessibility to the working process of this master draftsman.