Eugène Delacroix (1798–1863), Royal Tiger , Pen and brown ink, and watercolor, over graphite, Thaw Collection , 2006.54
Tiger Tiger
The French artist Delacroix was drawn to exotic cats. "Tigers, panthers, jaguars, lions, etc. Why is it that these things have stirred me so much? Can it be because I have gone outside the everyday thoughts that are my world; away from the street that is my entire universe?" The first living royal, or Bengal, tiger arrived in Paris in 1831, and Delacroix and his good friend Barye, the animal sculptor, often visited the menagerie at the Jardin des Plantes to observe the majestic creature.