Robert Bateman Hand Signed Limited Edition Print 14.25″ x 19.875″
Edition Size: 650
“Growing up I never dreamed I would see a tiger in the wild. My mother was two when Queen Victoria died so my childhood was filled with stories of the Victorian age, including the time of the British Raj in India. Photos of the ghastly spoils of tiger shoots were commonplace. Thank goodness attitudes have changed toward this so-called ‘sport’. Now the threat is the big money behind Asian traditional medicine. Birgit and I saw our first tiger in the wild while birdwatching in Assam. Across a body of water, in plain view a tiger stalked and charged a herd of marsh deer. The deer all escaped. On a more recent birding trip we saw 15 tigers in the wild in 4 different parks. This painting is like most of my art, a combination of many different reference sources – perhaps 10 different tigers from the wild and from zoos. The rocks and grasses are also created from different sources. I used the rhythm of the rocks and grasses to echo the bounding movement of the tiger when on the chase. The lighting was contrived to give a sense of drama and mystery befitting this magnificent animal.” Robert Bateman
(Monarch of Asia – Original – 2011, Oil on Board)
