Sunday, January 22, 2012

From Richard Flint #1


For Ole Whitey, whom we rightly lionize!

In 1858, with intent to hire a sculptor, the House of Commons allocated money for the lions now in Trafalgar Square. The London Public Works, however, hired painter Sir Edwin Landseer (1802-73), who had never held a chisel in his life, and Landseer’s lions were finally unveiled in 1867. Sir Edwin, however, very likely saw live lions earlier when he painted two portraits of Van Amburgh and his animals, one for Queen Victoria in 1839 and the other for the Duke of Wellington in the 1840s.


Portrait of Mr. Van Amburgh as He Appeared with His Animals at the London Theatres (ca. 1846-47) by Sir Edwin Landseer.

Oil on canvas, 69-1/8 x 93-7/8 inches (Yale Center for British Art)

Posted by Buckles at 1/22/2012 05:55:00 AM

5 comments:

Buckles said...

My dad often mentioned "the lion and the lamb shall lie down together!"
A trick that may may have been designed to legitimize the show while playing the Bible Belt.
He added that often the lamb layed down within the lion.

22 January, 2012 06:24
Bob K said...

In the same vein, one time on a Tuesday in Arkansas, a local came up to me and said that the show probably would not do very well because that was the night most people went to Bible study. Turned out that a lot of people didn't go to church that night, but came to the show instead. They probably wanted to see the lions.
Bob Kitto

22 January, 2012 07:48
Chic Silber said...

I recall reading in a London guide

that Landseer had never really

seen a live lion but had done the

sculptures from photographs

They are tremendous (bronze ?)

22 January, 2012 09:27
Dick Flint said...

Nice comment from your dad! The lion and lamb performance goes back to about 1835-37 when it was used by menagerie shows featuring Van Amburgh.
The image and identifying labels (size, date and title) are mixed up--the recumbent Van Amburgh painting is at Windsor Castle but the standing Van Amburgh (and on the larger canvas) is now at Yale.
Dick Flint
Baltimore

22 January, 2012 13:01
Unknown said...

George Sanger tried the trick in his British Parades. His wife played and dressed as Britannia (as per the UK coins) and she sat on a decorated float with a lion & lamb at her feet. That worked well until the lamb grew and got too big & boisterous. Another lamb was tried, but the lion decided it wasn't the same thing snd attacked it!

23 January, 2012 04:41

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)