Art Analysis: Peter Paul Rubens Lion Hunt - Essay Example

Art Analysis: Peter Paul Ruben’s Lion Hunt Grade (October 2, Art Analysis: Peter Paul Ruben’s Lion Hunt The artwork, Peter Paul Ruben’s Lion Hunt, looks very much like a real violent scene involving hunters and a lion they are trying to kill. Some of the hunters are each raising their spears trying to drive it into the lion, while others are lying down in desperate need of rescue from the lion’s attack. The artwork is painted using a combination of various colors that together form the earthly color appearances, which make the scene of the hunters and the lion’s struggle seem very real.

However, the overall color tone of the artwork is generally darker and gloomy, which serves to present the sad situation that both the hunters and the lion are facing in this battle. The background covers the whole natural view daytime, where the artwork shows everything from the ground where the hunters and the lion are struggling, all the way to the skies. While the sky is normally blue and white on a normal radiant and bright day, the artwork presents the sky in color tones that transition from pale white to grey and then to dark clouds, partly illuminated by very little light.

The presentation of the sky in such ominous color tones serves to indicate the gloomy situation occurring under the skies, where the hunters are struggling against a lion that seems strangely strong and fierce. The scenes happening under the skies have nothing bright or celebratory about them, a scenario that is in complete sync with the dark color tones of the sky. Additionally, the texture of the clouds in the sky depicted by the artwork is very rough, with the clouds hanging from the sky having varied shapes that do not align towards forming any recognizable pattern.

The rough texture of the sky is well representative of the rough conditions that both the hunters and the lion are facing in the battling struggle. The content of the artwork presents a couple of hunters who are struggling against a lion that seems extra-ordinarily ferocious. While some of the hunters are trying to pin the lion down with their spears, there are some who are already lying down on the ground seemingly wounded and in need of rescue. The hunters are dressed in different colors, with some donning red gowns while others have put on white gowns.

However, there are some hunters who are naked on the upper body part, seemingly from the outcome of the lion’s attack that has stripped them off their clothes. The right side of the artwork presents a man who is lying down on the ground completely naked on the upper body part, while the lower body part cannot be seen clearly. The left side of the artwork also shows another man who is almost completely naked on the upper body part, except for a white piece of gown that is hanging from his shoulders.

The two men seem to be struggling under the lion’s and other hunters’ feet on the ground covered by a very dark color tone, an indication that they are in a scary position. The middle of the artwork has a hunter who is well dressed in a white gown under the attack of the lion, which the other hunters are struggling to pin down with their spears. The white color of the hunter’s gown could be indicative that after all, at least there is a glimpse of hope for the hunter in white gown, of being rescued from the lion’s attack by the rest.

Reference Kleiner, F. (2012). Gardeners art through the ages (14th ed.). Wardsworth: Cenage Learning. P. 10.