The Jealous Lioness 1885 - 1890
paulmeyerheim
stadelmuseum
oil-paint
portrait
animal
oil-paint
figuration
oil painting
romanticism
genre-painting
"The Jealous Lioness" by Paul Meyerheim, painted between 1885 and 1890, depicts a scene from a traveling circus. A woman in a flamboyant dress stands before a cage, her hand resting on the bars as she interacts with a lion. A lioness snarls at her from the neighboring cage, conveying a sense of territoriality and rivalry. The painting is a realistic portrayal of animal behavior within the context of entertainment, capturing the captivating danger and drama of circus life.
Comments
The weapons of a woman: the female lion tamer lays claim to the lion with calm confidence while the jealous lioness snarls at her threateningly. As the two rivals violate the boundaries of their respective territories – the woman’s hand reaches into the cage, the lioness’s paws grope out between its bars – the object of desire merely watches. With a subtle sense of humour, the painter Paul Meyerheim – a friend of Adolph Menzel – staged not only the reversal of gender roles in the domination of the male by the female, but also the superiority of reason over ‘wild nature’.
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