African animals were considered exotic in the nineteenth century, and paintings of wild animals were very popular. With many artists practising in this area, it took a great deal of skill to gain prominence, and John Macallan Swan earned a reputation as one of the best animal painters in Britain. Swan had refined his craft in Paris, studying under the two greatest animalier sculptors of the time, Emmanuel Frémiet and Antoine-Louis Barye, who both feature in this room.
Royal Academy, London, 1891, no. 110