"The Lion Hunt" - great mastery

(1884 Neustadt an der Hardt – 1957 Bad Dürkheim) "Lion Hunt." Original title: Scene from North Africa with two Bedouins on horseback fighting a lion. Created by Dill in 1921, this early work is executed with virtuoso, rapid, broad, and free brushstrokes and impasto paint application. It is a stunning tribute to the famous lion hunt paintings of Rubens and Delacroix. In such depictions of riders and lions, Dill was able to demonstrate his great skill in capturing fleeting movements. Images of riders and horses, along with predatory cats, were the main themes of the paintings where Dill studied at the Munich Academy from 1908 to 1914 and as a master student under Heinrich von Zügel from 1909 to 1913. In the early 1920s, Dill repeatedly engaged with the motif of the lion hunt; in 1922, Dill presented a similar "Lion Hunt" at the Great Berlin Art Exhibition, and in 1922/23, a Dill exhibition was organized at the Tannhauser Gallery in Munich with a series of his latest paintings, in which this very work could have been presented. In 1923, the influential art magazine "Die Kunst für alle" (pp. 259–265) published a major article about Dill, written by the art historian Dr. Willy Burger, who also writes about his lion hunt paintings: "Among the artist’s best works are undoubtedly those images of the highest intensification of movement, of struggle, when the pursued predator, horse, and rider merge into one, forming a picture of the most exciting, touching life (...) The bold, majestic gesture of the battle scenes fully corresponds to the weight and energy of the brushstroke, illuminated by multicolored flashes, rhythmically dividing the canvas into broad, large areas." Oil on cardboard. Signed and titled on the reverse with a label, dated 1921; label of the Modern Gallery Tannhauser, Munich (1921–1928) with the number 3853. 47 cm x 69.5 cm. In a frame. Provenance: German private collection, Rhineland-Palatinate.