Two Lions Resting 1848

Editor: Here we have Eugène Delacroix's "Two Lions Resting," held at the Harvard Art Museums. It looks like a watercolor, and I’m struck by how detailed the lions' fur is. What can you tell me about this work? Curator: Consider the materials Delacroix chose: watercolor on paper. How does that medium itself relate to the subject matter of untamed animals? Was watercolor considered a 'lesser' medium then, and if so, what statement might Delacroix be making by depicting powerful creatures with it? Editor: I never thought about the material that way. So, it’s about elevating the medium itself? Curator: It's about interrogating the social hierarchy around art making, the work involved, and the value ascribed to different forms of labor, both artistic and perhaps even the labor of the animals themselves. What does it mean to depict them "resting"? Editor: It’s made me think differently about how artists and society value the materials used in art.