Rudolf Ernst (Austrian, 1854–1932)
Two Tigers on the Hunt
Oil on panel, 28 1/4 x 36 in.
Signed lower left: R. Ernst
2015.5

Although famous for his Orientalist images of daily life, Ernst also produced a series of paintings of large felines as captives or pets, resting or on the prowl like Two Tigers on the Hunt. This work, however, is strikingly different from his other bright tiger compositions, such as The Tiger Hunt in the Dahesh Collection. Here, Ernst chose a dark and ominous setting, with two tigers standing at the base of a gnarled tree eyeing their prey across the stream. While he traveled extensively through the Middle East and North Africa, Ernst could not have observed such a scene in that area of the world—the baobab tree is native to Africa, a motif he also used in Cobbler in the Shade of a Baobab Tree, where he fused a Turkish kiosk with a cobbler who seems to be wearing an eclectic Egyptian and North African costume (private collection).