Description
| Title: | In a Tropical Forest: Struggle between Tiger and Bull |
| Other titles: | In a Tropical Forest. Struggle between Tiger and Bull (catalogue title) |
| Painter: | Henri Rousseau |
| Year painted: | 1908 (as published) |
| Original size: | 46 cm x 55 cm (height x width, as published) |
| Original technique: | oil on canvas |
| Painting style: | naive art (primitivism) |
| Held at: | State Hermitage Museum, Saint Petersburg, Russia (inv. ГЭ-6536) |
| Our reproduction: | hand-painted oil on canvas, ten sizes or a size made to order |
In a Tropical Forest: Struggle between Tiger and Bull is a painting by Henri Rousseau, oil on canvas, signed by the painter at the lower left and dated 1908 in the published data. The original is published as 46 cm high and 55 cm wide and is held by the State Hermitage Museum in Saint Petersburg under inventory number ГЭ-6536. What you see: a tiger springing from the left onto a grey bull, both half hidden in tall grass, beneath a forest of pale hanging clusters, orange fruit and red blossoms.
In a Tropical Forest: Struggle between Tiger and Bull
What is on the canvas?
The canvas is a little wider than it is high. Low in the picture a tiger with a striped orange coat comes down from the left onto a grey bull whose head is forced to the ground; long blades of grass cross over both, so the fight is not displayed but half screened. Left of centre a band of tall stems rises, hung with drooping cream-yellow clusters. Round orange fruit hangs from slender branches to the left and right, and high on the right three red blossoms stand against the blue sky. Green hills show in the background at the left. Loose grass covers the lower third, and a few fallen orange fruits lie along the bottom edge. The signature, Henri Rousseau, is at the lower left; there is no date on the canvas.
Did Rousseau ever see a tropical forest?
No. On its page for Rousseau’s Surprised!, the National Gallery in London writes that the painter never left France and that his jungles are entirely imaginary. This forest, too, is therefore composed on the canvas rather than painted from nature: the plants are separate, clear shapes set side by side, just like the tiger and the bull. The painting the London museum is writing about is, in our collection, Tiger in a Tropical Storm.
Where is the original, and why is there no link to it?
The work is listed as held by the State Hermitage Museum in Saint Petersburg, inventory number ГЭ-6536. We found these details in the Wikidata entry, which ties the inventory number to the Hermitage and gives the year and the size. We could not check them on the museum’s own page, because the museum’s server does not respond to us at all, so we give no link to it and say so here, rather than link a page we have not been able to read. The canvas carries only the signature, without a date, so we give 1908 as published. Another fight between a tiger and a large horned animal is Fight between a Tiger and a Buffalo.
How large is the original, and what does that mean on a wall?
The published dimensions of the original are 46 cm high and 55 cm wide. Ten sizes are available: 66 x 55, 70 x 60, 79 x 64, 90 x 72, 95 x 76, 100 x 81, 110 x 88, 115 x 93, 125 x 100 and 130 x 110 cm. Even the smallest is larger than the original; 66 x 55 cm is nearest to its proportion. Because the tiger and the bull are hidden in the grass, the scene asks for closeness rather than distance: it is best hung where people pass or sit near it, so that the eye has time to find the animals. Custom sizes are ordered through the made-to-order painting page. Another Rousseau jungle is The Equatorial Jungle.
How is a hand-painted reproduction made?
We paint your canvas painting by hand in oils after you order it, at the size you choose. From a high-resolution image of the original, the painter lays in the sky and the hills first, then the stems and clusters, one leaf at a time, then the fruit and the blossoms, and paints the tiger and the bull last, before laying the final blades of grass across them. A hand-painted canvas always differs slightly from the next, and that difference is exactly what a print cannot give you. It is stretched on a wooden frame, ready to hang. A jungle whose animals do not attack but watch is Monkeys and Parrot in the Virgin Forest, and the whole collection is in the Henri Rousseau gallery.
Frequently asked questions
Where is the original kept?
At the State Hermitage Museum in Saint Petersburg, inventory number ГЭ-6536, as published; we could not check the museum’s own page, so we do not link it.
When was it painted?
The published data date it to 1908. The canvas carries only the signature, with no date.
What is happening between the tiger and the bull?
The title calls it a struggle. On the canvas the tiger comes down on the bull from the left and the bull’s head is pressed to the ground; the painting does not show the outcome.
Is this a print?
No. It is painted by hand in oils, and the layers of paint can be seen and felt.
Is the painting suitable as a gift?
Yes, especially for someone who loves animals and strong colour. If you would rather the recipient chose, there is a gift voucher.
- Subject: a tiger springing on a grey bull, both half hidden in tall grass, beneath pale clusters, orange fruit and red blossoms.
- Original: oil on canvas, 46 x 55 cm (height x width, as published), State Hermitage Museum, Saint Petersburg, inv. ГЭ-6536; 1908, as published.
- Our version: hand-painted oil, ten sizes from 66 x 55 to 130 x 110 cm, or a size made to order.
- Of note: the museum’s own page could not be read from here, so this page names the museum and inventory as published and carries no link.
