Liggende leeuwin 1848 - 1884

August Allebé made this sketch of a reclining lioness in graphite. The artist lived in the Netherlands during a time of significant shifts in art education. Allebé became director of the Rijksakademie in Amsterdam in 1880, and championed a new kind of visual naturalism, which can be seen in this drawing. How did the institutions in which art was taught affect the art that was made? Well, the image creates meaning through visual codes, cultural references, and historical associations. The Netherlands in the 19th century was shaped by its colonial past, its relationship to the natural world, and its social hierarchies. This detailed drawing of a lioness might reflect the growing interest in scientific observation and the exotic, as well as the place of animals within a modernizing society. Historians consult archival sources, period publications, and other artworks to better understand the place of such an image within its cultural moment. The meaning of art is contingent on its social and institutional context.