Tiger Ready to Spring

In contrast to the many resting tigers depicted by Delacroix in paintings, lithographs, and etchings, this one stands upright on its feet, tense and snarling at a challenger to the left. This is a rare instance of the artist’s use of the cliché verre technique, in which lines were etched or drawn on a glass plate to make a photographically produced image. Here the sparely delineated strokes imbue the wiry cat with an almost electric sense of anticipation and compact power.