In the Rijksmuseum collection there is an extraordinary painting, an imposing picture of a life-sized lion. Pieter Gerardus van Os painted this animal, which was living in King Louis Napoleon's menagerie near Haarlem, almost two centuries ago. The creature's skeleton is still kept at the University of Amsterdam. In 1808 Van Os gave the painting to the king, who had it hung in the Royal Museum -the immediate forerunner of the Rijksmuseum-which he had just established. The lion is an exception in the artist's oeuvre, as it is in the art that was being, produced in the early 19th century and in the Rijksmuseum's collection.
The turbulent life of The lion up to its most recent restoration - in preparation for its extended stay in the Amsterdam headquarters of ING - is traced in this Dossier. We see just what an influence Louis Napoleon had on the arts and sciences in Holland and how a menagerie of exotic animals fitted into his plans for reform. A French king, a Dutch painter and an exotic lion prove to be inextricably linked.