The Repast of the Lion, 1907

The print

Print Quality: Gallery-standard archival pigment giclée, made to order
Media: 308gsm 100% cotton Hahnemühle Photo Rag
Texture & Tone: Super-matte, smooth chalky finish with soft, muted blacks
Longevity: Museum-grade, generational permanence

Photo Rag suits this painting especially well. Its matte cotton surface keeps the crisp outline of every leaf sharp while letting the deep greens sit soft and flat, much as they do on the canvas.

Sizes available:

59×42cm, 23×17″, fine art print, open edition
100×70cm, 39×28″, fine art print, open edition

Safe, tracked delivery guaranteed worldwide, with sustainable packaging.

The story

Rousseau’s first jungle, Surprised! of 1891, left its tiger forever about to pounce. Sixteen years later he let the hunt finish. Here a lion feeds while the jungle stands perfectly still around it, as if holding its breath.

The picture was probably shown at the Salon d’Automne of 1907, the same exhibition where, two years earlier, Rousseau had hung alongside Matisse and the Fauves. The self-taught former customs clerk was now showing with the avant-garde.

The vegetation came from studies he made in Paris’s botanical gardens; the animals were adapted from popular ethnographic journals and illustrated children’s books. Every leaf is outlined and placed with the care of a botanical plate.

The painting belonged to the New York collector Sam A. Lewisohn, who left it to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 1951.