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          Javanese man who lived under the   otherwise, Saleh may have met
          shadow of his colonizer.   Eugéne Delacroix but there is
                                     no indication that they knew
          Saleh became interested in   each other. Saleh also never
          animals when he lived in Den   visited Africa.
          Haag. Here he had an opportunity
          to study lions, tigers, snakes, and   When Saleh returned to the
          other wild beasts in the circus   Netherlands-Indies in 1852, he
          owned by Pierre Henri Martin.   painted the same themes he
          Saleh was particularly intrigued by   explored in Europe. In 1870, he
          lions, which he found completely   painted a dark horse struggling
          strange, as there are no lions   on the ground with a terrified
          in Java.  In order to show his   expression on a sizeable canvas.
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          gratitude to Martin for letting   Its muscles are tense because it is
          him study the lion, he painted the   being attacked by a lion from the
          portrait of Martin and gifted it   back. Its Bedouin rider falls to the
          to him.  A few years later, Saleh   ground while struggling to fight
               3
          began to paint animals as the   back by shooting the lion with his
          main subjects in his paintings. He   pistol. Meanwhile, another rider
          chose to paint them because as   with darker skin who is perhaps
          an Asian, he felt that he could   a servant, falls dead on his back.
          capture emotion better, rather   Saleh’s dramatic painting shows
          than working on European history   possibilities between life and
          paintings to which he had no   death, and this quality makes
          connection. In the beginning   his paintings extraordinary. This
          of his career, he chose to paint   painting is titled Fight with Lion,
          hunting scenes that show groups   and it is often also known as
          of men riding horses hunting wild   “Between Life and Death.” The
          animals. In 1842, Saleh started   struggle to survive is a prominent
          to explore a new theme: a horse   theme in Saleh’s works that he
          with a rider on its back who is   often reworked in his paintings.                   1    Terima kasih kepada Marie-Odette
          being attacked by a lion. The   Saleh passed away on 23 April                          Scalliet yang banyak membantu
                                                                                                 memberikan masukan-masukan
          composition was informed by   1880 in Bogor, ten years after he                        dalam penulisan naskah tulisan ini.
          Horace Vernet’s Mazeppa (and   finished this painting.                                 Werner Kraus & Irina Vogelslang,
          the Wolves) (1826)  and another                                                      ²    Raden Saleh: The Beginning of Modern
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                                                                                                 Indonesian Painting (Jakarta: Goethe
          work titled A Lion Attacking a   Along with Banteng Hunt II,                           Institut - Indonesia, 2012), hal. 39.
          Horse (1765) by George Stubbs.   this painting was gifted by                         ³   ibid., hal. 39-40.
          His exploration on this theme   the Dutch Queen Juliana to                           ⁴  ⁵   ibid., hal. 276-9.
                                                                                                 ibid., hal. 278-9.
          produced a painting titled Arab   the Indonesian government in                       ⁶    “Soeharto nodigt koningin uit”, Dag-
          Horseman Attacked by a Lion.    1970, a hundred years after its                        blad voor Nederland, 4 September
                              5
                                                                                                 1970. Terima kasih kepada Remco
          Although some scholars stipulate   completion.   6                                     Vermeulen atas informasi ini.
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