Daniel's Answer to the King 1890

Briton Riviere made Daniel's Answer to the King with oil paint, a traditional art material that allows for rich colors and smooth blending. But it is more than a painting about religion. Consider the amount of labor involved in the production of this image. First, the manufacture of oil paint itself, with pigments ground by hand. Next, the skilled labor of the painter Riviere. Notice the way that he uses the material of paint to create a specific mood. The dark palette is rendered with blended brushstrokes to highlight the dramatic tension of the story, and the artist uses color and light to create a compelling and emotive tableau, with particular attention to the accurate depiction of the lions' anatomy. Through careful application of this process, the scene is imbued with a sense of drama and suspense. Remembering the materials and methods by which art is made reminds us not only of the artist’s skilled labor, but of the wider social context of artmaking itself.