This is a painting of a polar bear attacking a seal on an iceberg in the ocean. The bear has cream-colored fur with some patches of dark yellow, and its large paws end in sharp claws. The seal has sleek brown fur or skin. The bear is poised atop the struggling seal, one of its large paws raised upward and the other clawing the seal's side. The seal's mouth is open, its head turned to look back at the bear. The icy landscape includes jagged ice formations and a green-blue ocean that stretches to the horizon, with a distant ship sailing next to another tall iceberg. The sky above is flat gray, with some lighter tones near the horizon.

Law of the Wild

Charles S. Raleigh

This is a painting of a polar bear attacking a seal on an iceberg in the ocean. The bear has cream-colored fur with some patches of dark yellow, and its large paws end in sharp claws. The seal has sleek brown fur or skin. The bear is poised atop the struggling seal, one of its large paws raised upward and the other clawing the seal's side. The seal's mouth is open, its head turned to look back at the bear. The icy landscape includes jagged ice formations and a green-blue ocean that stretches to the horizon, with a distant ship sailing next to another tall iceberg. The sky above is flat gray, with some lighter tones near the horizon.

Colors in this work

Details
Artist
Charles S. Raleigh
Date
1881
Medium
oil on canvas
Dimensions
overall: 89.5 x 102 cm (35 1/4 x 40 3/16 in.) framed: 103.5 x 116.2 x 5.7 cm (40 3/4 x 45 3/4 x 2 1/4 in.)
Department
CAB
Holding institution
National Gallery of Art
Palette

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Image provider
national-gallery-of-art
License
CC0-1.0
Credit
Gift of Edgar William and Bernice Chrysler Garbisch

Art Genome Taxonomy

6 tags

Subject Matter

  • Animals Visual · 99%

    Two clearly identifiable animals, a polar bear and a seal, occupy the central foreground.

  • Violence Visual · 98%

    The bear is shown clawing and biting at the seal in a direct physical attack.

  • Landscapes and Waterscapes Visual · 98%

    The scene includes broken ice floes, open ocean, a low horizon, and a distant iceberg and ship.

  • Movement Visual · 93%

    The raised paw, open jaws, and opposing bodies create a clearly staged moment of physical action.

Medium and Techniques

  • Oil Painting Metadata · 99%

    The National Gallery of Art identifies the work as oil on canvas, made in 1881.

Time Periods

  • 19th Century Art Metadata · 99%

    The work is dated 1881, placing it within nineteenth-century art.

Source & rights

Charles S. Raleigh. Law of the Wild. Courtesy National Gallery of Art, Washington.

High-resolution sources

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