Drawn with black chalk with white highlights on beige paper, a male lion with a full, wavy mane looks out toward us on this nearly square drawing. He stands with his body angled so his rump is farther away, to our right, but his head faces us, his eyes looking slightly off to our right. His front paws are together and his back feet slightly separated with his tail curled loosely down between his legs. The bottoms of the lion’s feet are cropped by the edge of the paper. His mane touches the top edge and his haunches nearly reach the right edge of the paper, so he fills the sheet. White chalk…
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Lion

Sir Peter Paul Rubens (Flemish, 1577 - 1640)

c. 1612-1613

Medium
black chalk, heightened with white, yellow chalk in the background
Classification
Drawing
Dimensions
overall: 25.2 x 28.3 cm (9 15/16 x 11 1/8 in.)
Culture
Flemish
Museum
National Gallery of Art, CG-E
Credit line
Ailsa Mellon Bruce Fund
Rights
Public domain (NGA Open Access, CC0), as the museum states it.
Who can see it
Little Ones profiles and older: it shows gentle subjects for the very young. How works are placed

View at the National Gallery of Art