Such a stunning lion and lioness drawing. Is it any wonder that it was used as the frontispace for at least two natural history books? I also found a third version used deeper in another book. All of the books were published in the 1890s.
In this full-color, vintage drawing, we appear to have a lion protecting his lady. He looks almost ready to jump off the page at us while she watches from over his shoulder. She stands tall in the grass, while he is crouched down and ready for just about anything. You can almost see his tail twitching.
This lion and lioness drawing is the work of Wilhelm Kuhnert (1865-1926). Kuhnert was a German painter and illustrator most well known for his animal images.He traveled to East Africa, Egypt, India and Scandinavia. His work stands apart from many of his contemporaries as his subjects were drawn from encountering them in the wild, rather, than visiting them in a zoo. His favorite subject matter were African lions.
Luckily, the best quality lion and lioness drawing that I found was also the biggest. The one you see here is much smaller. Just click on the one above to view and download the best version.
This image is copyright free and in the public domain anywhere that extends copyrights 70 years after death or at least 120 years after publication when the original illustrator is unknown.
