Lion or pussycat?

Here’s the skinny on the lions in Trafalgar Square and what artists have to do to make do. After much hullabaloo the commission for the four bronze beasts was given to Sir Edwin Landseer, Queen Victoria’s favourite 🎨 painter.

Landseer had an unrivalled reputation as an animal painter but had never sculpted anything in his life. He spent hours in London zoo studying the lions there but under time pressure and struggling with poor health,  he had to resort to using an ordinary domestic moggie 🙀 as a model.

The end result, the four bronze lions,  are both majestic and magnificent. But it’s nice to know that there is a bit of pussycat in there as well.