The lions of Trafalgar Square

Britain's greatest masterpieces

- Sir Edwin Landseer

TRAFALGAR SQUARE’S black lions are treasured, albeit taken for granted, in much the same way that the animal paintings of their creator are among the nation’s most beloved, but disdained artworks. Sir Edwin’s Landseer’s The Monarch of the Glen, Dignity and Impudence and The Old Shepherd’s Chief Mourner exert emotional appeal, but are ignored in fashionable art circles.

The regal poise of the bronze quartet of lions beneath Nelson’s Column astounds the casual passer-by, even as others sprawl all over them to have pictures taken. This is part of their charm: the lions are imposing and dignified, but not too lofty to discourage affection. They are grand adornments of the street scene, yet reflective of the square’s friendly informality.

The commission, when it arrived in 1858, was controversial. Landseer was, after all, a painter, not a sculptor. However, he was the age’s foremost animal artist, renowned for his painstaking approach to anatomical detail. He was a favourite in Society’s upper circles and his works had mass appeal. He was also fascinated by lions. He had visited the Tower of London menagerie, dissected the big cats, sketched and painted them.

Frederic G. Stephens’s 1880 biography recounts an evening when friends assembled in Landseer’s home in St John’s Wood, London. The visitors were somewhat alarmed when the gathering was interrupted by a manservant who, with Jeevesian imperturbability, entered the room to ask of his master: ‘Did you order a lion, sir?’ They were relieved to learn that an elderly lion had died at the Zoological Gardens in nearby Regent’s Park and it was clearly a natural response to place it in a cart and drive it to the artist’s gates. From it arose the fine study The Old Lion, Nero.