Portrait of Mr Van Amburgh as He Appeared 

Edwin Landseer painted this portrait of Mr. Van Amburgh sometime in the mid-19th century. It depicts the famous animal trainer, Isaac Van Amburgh, in a cage with several big cats. The image raises interesting questions about the relationship between humans and animals, and the public's fascination with exotic creatures during this period. Landseer’s painting captures the Victorian era’s complex attitudes toward nature and spectacle. Van Amburgh, dressed in a vaguely classical garb, stands confidently amidst lions, tigers, and a leopard, suggesting human dominance over the natural world. This was a time when public displays of animals in circuses and menageries were immensely popular. They reflected both scientific curiosity and a desire for entertainment. The painting also hints at the darker side of this fascination, the exploitation and confinement of these animals for human amusement. To fully understand this painting, we need to research the social and cultural context in which it was created. What were the prevailing attitudes towards animals at the time? How did the rise of empire and colonialism shape the British public’s understanding of the exotic? These are the questions that social art historians ask, using a wide range of resources to reconstruct the past.