Willy ARACTINGI (1930-2003). The Lion and the Donkey Hunting, 1994. Oil on canvas signed and dated lower left, titled, countersigned and dated four times on the back (traces of rubbing around the edges). Height 100 cm - Width : 100 cm The work is referenced in the catalog raisonné under n°32-40. A certificate of authenticity may be issued by the artist's committee at the purchaser's expense. Note: Willy Aractingi, born in New York and raised in Cairo, decided to settle in Beirut in the 1940s. He describes himself as a primitive naive artist, with a humorous style and use of flat tints reminiscent of Douanier Rousseau. He mainly paints scenes of life and landscapes that surround him, as well as illustrating Lebanese fairy tales. In 1989, he began his great masterpiece illustrating the 244 Fables by Jean de La Fontaine, which he hoped to complete in 1995 for the 300th anniversary of the famous fabulist's birth. Here, he reproduces "The Lion and the Donkey Hunting", Jean de la Fontaine, Fable 19, Book II.