Zwei Bären, der eine von einem Löwen angegriffen 

Editor: So, this red-chalk drawing is titled "Two Bears, One Attacked by a Lion" by Johann Ludwig von Pfeiff, and it's currently held at the Städel Museum. It's like a scene ripped from a fable – kind of brutal, yet the style feels so... delicate? What do you see when you look at it? Curator: Oh, the drama! It does leap out, doesn't it? Beyond the immediacy of the attack, I see Pfeiff exploring the raw power of nature, almost like a stage set for the ultimate survival. But there's something else humming beneath the surface. Look how the lion is rendered – less a savage beast and more like a thinking participant. Don't you get that sense, too? As if the whole thing is…allegorical? Editor: Allegorical how? I mean, a lion attacking a bear, isn't that pretty straightforward? Curator: Is it, though? Perhaps it's about power dynamics, hierarchies, the struggles that define our existence. It reminds me of those baroque history paintings. Think about it: We project human stories onto animals all the time. Is this just a depiction of violence, or a reflection on conflict and dominance in society? Editor: Hmm, I didn’t think of it that way. The positioning of the bears – one in the struggle, the other just observing…it definitely adds another layer. Like they are stand-ins for people perhaps. Curator: Precisely! And notice how the sketchy, almost unfinished quality of the background heightens that feeling, don’t you think? Editor: I do. Seeing it that way definitely changes the tone. Now I can't unsee the 'allegory'! Thanks for that! Curator: Anytime! And who knows? Maybe Pfeiff himself had a particular struggle in mind when he put chalk to paper! Art always whispers more than it shouts, right?