Ontwerp voor een tegeltableau met leeuwen 1874 - 1945

Carel Adolph Lion Cachet made this design for a tile panel with lions in watercolour. It’s on grid paper. The inky blacks and yellows slosh and swirl around a central vertical form, maybe a shadow or a doorway. I can imagine the artist leaning over the page, coaxing the pigment, letting the water do its thing. There’s a push-pull between control and accident, something I know well in my own practice! And those lions, they’re like ghosts or memories, lurking in the corners of the design. Are they fierce? Are they friendly? It’s hard to tell. Maybe Lion Cachet was thinking about heraldry or ancient symbols. All that black makes me think of Goya. I wonder if he knew that his work would end up here, in conversation with so many other artists across time? It's beautiful isn't it? The way one image can spark another, and another. Painting is always a conversation.