A Lion Hunt 

Rubens made this painting of a lion hunt with oil on panel, and what gets me right away is how it shows us artmaking as a process. The texture of the panel peeks through the paint in places, and it's almost monochromatic, mostly browns and tans. You can almost smell the umber and raw sienna. There is a real dance of dark and light here that makes it feel dynamic. The riders and animals are caught in a flurry of strokes, and the artist is clearly working fast, wet-into-wet, without letting areas dry in between. Look at the lower right corner, at the slain lion, to get a sense of Rubens' method. His brushstrokes are like quick notations, rapidly capturing the scene. The eye is drawn to this, the lion, but you will notice other things in the painting that you didn’t before. This piece embodies an ongoing conversation, not just between artists but between seeing and feeling. It reminds me of Delacroix, but with a dash more Baroque drama. It is a world where ambiguity reigns, and that's where the fun begins.