Delacroix took the subject for this painting from his recollections of the journey through Morocco in 1832. In the foreground he depicted two hunters - a man and a youth - beneath the luxurious crown of a tree, as well as two Arabs in the background with a horse. The outlines of the figures and the rock, the twisted trunks of the trees create a sense of tension. The rifle in the hands of one of the hunters and the unsheathed sabre lying on the ground emphasize that things are coming to an end. The dramatism so typical of Romanticism is created here by energetic brushstrokes and the contrast of complementary colours - red and green, blue and orange - and light and dark patches: the dark green foliage and shaded rock seem to be more tangible in contrast with the sky and the mountain stream.
Credit: Entered the Hermitage in 1922; transferred from the Kushelevskaya Gallery of the Academy of Fine Arts