Fighting Lions

William Rimmer

1870–71; cast possibly 1906, definitely by late January 1907 · Bronze · The American Wing

Rimmer was always fascinated by lions; he drew, painted, and sculpted them. While he may have known the lions depicted in paintings by Théodore Gericault and Eugène Delacroix, he was almost surely influenced by the work of French animal sculptor Antoine-Louis Barye. Rimmer’s colleague William Morris Hunt had introduced Barye’s sculpture to Boston collectors in the 1860s, so Rimmer likely knew his realistic statuettes of battling beasts, at the very least through engravings. "Fighting Lions" portrays a male and female lion locked in combat, an angry, turbulent mass of interlocked forms. Rimmer’s intimate knowledge of animal anatomy is evident, especially in his rendering of the straining muscles beneath the rippling, activated surface. In his writings, he frequently returned to the motif of animals caught in epic battles, symbolically connecting to moral chaos. Notably, the genders of the lions may have been a pointed reference to the ongoing struggles for women’s rights, of which Rimmer was a vocal supporter.

Artist

William Rimmer

Date

1870–71; cast possibly 1906, definitely by late January 1907

Medium

Bronze

Culture

American

Department

The American Wing

Credit line

Gift of Daniel Chester French, 1907