A Lion from the Menagerie of King Louis Napoleon, 1808 1808

Curator: What a formidable creature. This is "A Lion from the Menagerie of King Louis Napoleon, 1808," rendered in oil on canvas by Pieter Gerardus van Os. It's currently part of the Rijksmuseum collection. Editor: Imposing is right! There's something rather melancholy about it though. The dark palette and almost claustrophobic composition... it feels like a portrait of confinement as much as a powerful beast. Curator: Interesting take! For van Os, I suspect this was a commission reflecting the tastes and possibly the propaganda of Louis Napoleon's court. Captivity and display, after all, speak volumes about power and dominion. The material reality here is an artist rendering animal portraiture in oil paint for a King with access to exotic animals. What a contrast to the artist and the animal's environments. Editor: Absolutely. But even the way the light catches the lion’s mane, the almost human expression in its eyes... lions have, for centuries, been symbolic of courage, royalty and dominance across various cultures. This single lion represents all the symbolism related to kings, nobility and so on. I see a king stripped from his agency and freedom. Curator: Or is it? Think of the brushstrokes, how they simulate fur, how the artist used the oily medium to recreate the subject as naturally as possible. Is this image created as a powerful symbol for the ruling figure by showing their power and dominion or simply documenting the existence of the animals and perhaps scientific efforts in this kind of zoological representation. Editor: Perhaps it's both? It serves as documentation of the Lion while reinforcing the king's control, alluding to themes of man versus nature that go further than an everyday king's portrait would imply. The animal portrait makes you rethink the whole definition of court portraits and representation. Curator: I think that's quite insightful! Looking closer, you can clearly follow his material rendering of the subject as an exercise that moves us from documentational to symbolical and back, while exploring new media possibilities. The artist as a producer, and also, the King. Editor: A fitting end to our reflections, indeed. Curator: Fascinating to view an artist processing raw nature in an industrializing society!