PARK AND CE/AETERY. 
T73 
but know enough to keep closed its mouth and 
thus silence its hissing. But, no; courage born of 
desperation loses discretion, and that lost, the foe 
becomes enraged, then relentless, and the tragedy 
becomes speedily final. In this group the lion — 
scarcely above life-size — is in all its proportions 
charming, even to a subtle delicacy in its graceful, 
life-like, sinewy strength, which emerges into the 
cunning half-shy movement of the eye, that regards 
so stealthfully the tortuous and hissing form of its 
victim — the serpent — writhing beneath the massive 
paw of its conqueror. This is mounted on Rich- 
mond, Virginia, granite base 8 by 4 feet, rising 
from the ground 3 feet 6 inches, unpolished and 
broad at the base, carved and hollowed center, with 
a polished crown mould. The cost to the associa- 
ciation for the plaster cast and casting — which was 
executed in the foundry of F. Barbediennc, Paris, 
France, and pedestal amounted to >^3,111, and in- 
cidentals made a total of about ?!5>50o. 
This may be accepted as one, if not the best, ac- 
quisition in the category of Philadelphia’s statuary, 
and of which the F'airmount Park Art Association 
have every reason to be proud. The original stands 
in the Orangery in P.iris, the resting place of Barye’s 
lion, on the column of the Bastille and the compan- 
ion monarch of the forest, which, I believe, stand at 
or near the bureau of the Prefecture of police, at 
the Palace of the Louvre. 
Philadelphia also holds among the Wiltsbach 
collection at Memorial Hall, Fairmount Park, a 
bronze group, the “Flagle and Heron,” another 
charming example of this great man’s achievements. 
THIS LION FKaiTKR. 
Temporarily, this group stands near the north- 
west corner of General Post Office, Ninth and 
Chestnut street. This is a splendid replica of the 
the original by the late Prof. Albert William Wolff 
of Berlin, Germanjn a man thoroughly imbued with 
the exalted ideas consequent upon ambition, a broad 
mind and of independent and deliberate action, but 
yet not possessed of that rugged avidity and con- 
ception necessary to depict human or animal pas- 
sion or rage, which develops into the full blown 
blossom termed despair. 
Dealing more severely in the platonicisms of 
peace, he was regarded with due reverence by his 
fellow Teutons and honored by his King. Born in 
Neustrelitz, Mecklenburg, on the iith of November, 
1814, he, at the age of 17, entered the studio of 
Christian Rauch, and from him, who had caught the 
more peaceful-atmospheric-creative vein of Canova 
and Thorwaldsen, Wolffs life was shaped. 
The touch and teaching of that school ended 
only with his death, which took place on the 20th 
of June, 1 892. 
His ‘‘Lion Tamer” rendered him, in a public 
sense, exalted, but among the many of his works 
sight must not be lost of the equestrian statues of 
Ernest Henry, King of Hanover, which proud and 
stately Flanover still guards. King Frederick 
William III in the Lust Garden of Berlin, King 
Frederick William IV. at Konigsberg, the charm- 
ing figure of Peace at the foot of Rauch’s Columns, 
crowned by his familiar Victory, are among the 
many creations which bear evidence to his signal 
and everlasting ability. 
h'or many years the Fairmount Park Art Asso- 
ciation made fruitless efforts to obtain the plaster 
cast of the group that forms this theme. Nor was it 
until Herr Manger, a former student under Wolff, 
came to live in Philadelphia, that correspondence 
THE LION FIGHTER. — PROF. ALBERT WILLIAM WOLFF, SC. 
was again opened, which resulted finally — owing to 
his efforts — in the Association obtaining the cast. 
The German government at first demurred, but 
finally consented to allow a recast to be made in 
plaster in the Government Atelier, for which a 
charge was made of $1,500. Upon its delivery here 
it was turned over to Bureau Bros., by whom the 
casting was made at a cost of ^5 , 500. In the original 
the lion is placed hors de combat, with the broken 
spear-head driven well in, under the left breast. 
An accident to the plaster cast in shipment caused 
this to be broken off, and unwittingly this was 
omitted in the casting. This error will be rectified 
before it is set in its final resting place. — IV. Percy 
Lockington . 
