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Quaerens Quem Devoret signed 'J.L. Gerome.' (lower left) oil on canvas 241/2 x 431/4 in. (62.3 x 110 cm.) Painted in 1888 PROVENANCE Boussod, Valadon & Cie. (acquired directly from the artist in 1888). Clark Collection, Saint Louis (acquired from the above in 1889). Susan McLure Clark; sale, American Art Association, New York, 15 April 1913, lot 117. Mary Deumau Clark Wetmore, Honolulu. Acquired as a gift from the above by the present owner, 1969. LITERATURE F.F. Hering, G‚r“me, His Life and Works, New York, 1892, p. 190 (illustrated as a photogravure p. 88). Oeuvres de J.L. G‚r“me, Cabinet des Estampes, Biblioth‚que Nationale, Paris, vol. X, p. 8. G. Ackerman, The Life and Work of Jean-L‚on G‚r“me, Paris, 1986, p. 262, no. 362 (illustrated p. 263). G. Ackerman, Jean-L‚on G‚r“me, 2nd ed., Paris, 2000, p. 322, no. 362 (illustrated p. 323). EXHIBITION Cercle artistique et litt‚raire, Paris, 1889. NOTES Jean-L‚on G‚r“me is best known for his paintings of Orientalist or historical subject matter however he also was a meticulous animal painter. His horses, camels, dogs, tigers and lions are often depicted with great precision and power making them excellent central figures. G‚r“me was particularly fond of tigers, as his middle name is L‚on and these felines appear in numerous compositions, particularly following Mr. Walters 1863 commission of The Christian Martyrs that was only completed and delivered to the Walters Art Gallery in 1883. G‚r“me would study and sketch these animals mostly at zoos or circuses as he was convinced that animals in captivity were healthier and had fewer injuries. He even canceled appointments to follow circuses on their routes if they contained good specimens. For a while, according to family tradition, he kept a retired circus animal, toothless and benign, as a pet. Gerald Ackerman comments on Quarens quem devoret which "features a hungry lion stalking the shore of the Gulf of Aqaba. G‚r“me, fascinated by the desolate quality of the coastline, had sketched it in 1867. Now, kept at home... the use of the older sketch material seems natural; it becomes a characteristic of the period" (Ackerman, op. cit., 1986, p. 133). G‚r“me loved observing the effects of light and what it did to objects: how it hit them, how it touched them and obscured or clarified their outlines or how it lit up certain colors and changed certain others. He also enjoyed juxtaposing rough surfaces with glossy ones, light and shadow with pure color, monumental with the minute and the infinitely spacious with the singular individual. The lion's placement on the bottom right singles him out, giving a strong emphasis to his vast and barren surrounding. The sun hits a dune across the bay, significantly alluminating it and the sea changes its color from an intense emerald green to a deep cobalt blue. A beautiful yet desolate surrounding dwarfs what is a noble and powerful lion.