The Beggar 1898

"The Beggar" is a bronze sculpture created in 1898 by French artist Jean-Léon Gérôme. The sculpture depicts a beggar, his face etched with hardship, leaning on a large lion. The inscription at the base, "Date Obolum Androcli," refers to the Greek fable of Androcles and the Lion, where a man who freed a lion from a thorn was later spared by the grateful animal. The sculpture highlights the theme of compassion and human-animal connection, a prevalent motif in Gérôme's later work.