Xu was born in Yixing in Jiangsu Province in 1895. Since the age of six, he learnt the classics, portrait painting and calligraphy from his father, Xu Dazhang. In 1919, he obtained a government scholarship to study at the Academie Julian and the Ecole Nationale Superieure des Beaux Arts in Paris. His experience in Europe provided him with a firm foundation in the Western understanding of light, colour and form. Inspired by the Gao brothers of the Lingnan school, Xu was keen to capture the form and spirit of nature. In this work, the lion looks on warily at a snarling snake and appears subdued despite its size. This may have been a symbolic reference to China's suffering during the Sino-Japanese War.
