A Rare Painting Hung In A Family’s Living Room For 150 Years Before Someone Recognized The Value
While going through a property in France’s central region of Touraine, a French auctioneer named Malo de Lussac came across an original oil painting by Eugène Delacroix, one of the greatest 19th-century Romantic artists in France.
The painting was titled Study of Reclining Lions and was owned by the same family since the mid-1800s. It was expected to fetch up to $330,000 at auction.
“The owners were not sure that it was a Delacroix,” said de Lussac. “When I arrived in the living room, my gaze was attracted by his magnetism. It was very moving. Delacroix’s works are seen very regularly in museums but very little in private hands.”
The canvas is 24 inches by 20 inches and depicts seven lions lounging around. The color palette includes ochres and deep browns, according to Hôtel Drouot, an auction house in Paris.
The bodies of the big cats are muscular, and their faces are framed by golden flowing manes. Six of the lions were painted in detail, while the seventh was just a simple line sketch.
Delacroix was born in 1798 and has long been regarded as the leader of the French Romantic movement. He made his artistic debut in 1822 at the Paris Salon, where he showed his first artwork, The Baroque of Dante. His work was known for featuring vibrant colors and dramatic compositions.
One of his most famous and powerful pieces is Liberty Leading the People, which was painted in response to the July Revolution of 1830.
Delacroix drew inspiration from literature, historical events, and his travels. He often painted wild beasts, such as lions.
He frequented the Jardin des Plantes menagerie in Paris, which housed captive lions and tigers. Additionally, he studied taxidermy and observed animal dissections multiple times.
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In 1829, one of the menagerie’s lions, Coco, passed away, and its cadaver became available to sketch. Over the course of about a decade, Delacroix painted The Lion Hunt, a series depicting violent confrontations between lions and horsemen carrying spears, swords, and shields.
The recently discovered Study of Reclining Lions is accompanied by a 1973 certificate from collector Pierre Dieterle and a 1966 letter written by Lee Johnson, a Delacroix specialist.
The back of the painting is also marked with a wax seal from Delacroix’s studio sale. The sale took place a year after his death in 1863. He died at the age of 65.
The artwork is de Lussac’s second biggest discovery in the past two years. In 2023, he appraised a piece that ended up being an authentic work by the famous 17th-century Flemish artist Pierre Brueghel.
It sold for about $850,000. The Study of Reclining Lions was put on display at Hôtel Drouot before being auctioned.
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