Lion and Lioness

Lion and Lioness from 1771 by George Stubbs depicts the great cats with the anatomical study he typically applied to horses, demonstrating his determination to extend his naturalist methodology across the animal kingdom. Stubbs's lion and lioness paintings were based on observations at private menageries—including the royal menagerie at the Tower of London—where he studied the animals' anatomy and behavior with the same rigor he had brought to his equine dissection project. The paired cats create a domestic scene within the exotic subject: predators at rest, their power latent rather than displayed. His lion paintings circulated through engraving and gave European audiences who had never seen a live lion detailed naturalistic images that replaced the heraldic stylizations of earlier art. The work is held at the Museum of Fine Arts Boston.

The paired lions are rendered with anatomical precision, Stubbs capturing the muscular power and distinctive features of the great cats.