Liggende leeuw 1809 - 1859

Pieter de Goeje's "Liggende leeuw" is a drawing of a resting lion rendered with delicate lines. The texture is smooth, and the monochrome palette focuses attention on form and structure. The lion is positioned on the right of the image adding weight to that side. The lion's pose is relaxed yet alert, the composition suggests control and latent power. The structural use of line and shading creates a sense of depth, but the flat perspective maintains a level of abstraction. This tension mirrors broader 19th-century discussions about nature and representation. De Goeje seems to be engaging with the semiotics of the lion as a symbol. The lion, traditionally a signifier of strength and royalty, is here rendered with softness, destabilizing fixed notions of power and control. The drawing invites us to reconsider the relationship between the symbolic and the real.