Lion

This bronze is copied from a model made by Stevens in about 1852 for the seated lions he cast for tops of the dwarf posts by the entrance lodges outside London's British Museum. According to one admirer, 'the number of imitations of this lion by other artists is their sincerest tribute; and technically it is equally a triumph for Stevens in the small number (20) of pieces which are necessary in the mould for casting it'. Armstrong commented, 'They display, perhaps, the nearest approach to the Gothic spirit of which Stevens was capable (Armstrong 1881, p. 15). The lions are no longer in position, having been removed in 1896 to railings outside the Charles Holden part of the Law Society building in Chancery Lane. Others were placed on the railings around the Wellington monument in St Paul's Cathedral, London after Stevens's death, between 1892 and 1912, when the tomb was removed from the Consistory Chapel in St Paul's. Two further plaster versions of the British Museum lion figure were acquired by the Museum in 1975 from the Tate Gallery, London.