Plate 11: A Lioness with Two Lions in the Background, c. 1575/1580

Inscription

upper center in black ink: Quando LEONI / Fortior eripuit vitam LEO? quo nemore umquam / Expiravit Aper, maioris dentibus Apri?; center right in black ink: XI.; animals in image numbered .1. and .2.; lower center in violet ink: Dicit piger Leo est in via, et LEAENA in itineribus: sicut / ostium vertitur in cardine suo, ita piger in lectulo suo.pro.26. (“The slothful man says: ‘There is a lion in the way and a lioness in the roads. As the door turns on its hinges, so does the slothful man to his bed.” Proverbs 26:13-14) (Latin Vulgate Bible)
Facing page: upper center in red/violet ink: LEO rugiens et ursus esuriens. / Princeps impius sup[er], populum paupere[m]. pro:28 (“As a roaring lion, and a hungry bear; so is a wicked prince over the poor people.” Proverbs 28:15) (Latin Vulgate Bible); lower center in (gold?): Sicut fremitus LEONIS ita et regis ira: / Et sicut ros super herbam, ita et hilaritas eius / Pro: 19. (“The king’s anger is as the roaring of a lion; but his cheerfulness is as dew upon the grass.” Proverbs 19:12) (Latin Vulgate Bible)

Provenance

Emperor Rudolph of Austria; Lessing J. Rosenwald, Alverthorpe, PA; gift to NGA, 1987.

Exhibition History

1982

Drawings from the Holy Roman Empire, = 1540 - 1680, The Art Museum, Princeton University, National Gallery of Art, Museum of Art, Carnegie Insitute, Pittsburgh (exh. cat. by Thomas DaCosta Kaufmann, no. 56.

1982

Drawings from the Holy Roman Empire, 1540 - 1680, The Art Museum, Princeton University, National Gallery of Art, Museum of Art, Carnegie Insitute, Pittsburgh (exh. cat. by Thomas DaCosta Kaufmann, no. 56.

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