Explore the Reception of this artwork, Lion Attacking a Dromedary.
Lion Attacking a Dromedary was created to celebrate the French colonial empire and uses orientalist tropes. The diorama is inaccurate both scientifically and anthropologically and is considered to be a work of fiction. Anthropologists, zoologists, and museum studies commentators have been critical of the piece since the 1890s. The Smithsonian Institution questioned the propriety of showing such a sensationalist diorama in 1892. Lion Attacking a Dromedary was removed from the American Museum of Natural History in 1898 and they considered destroying it because the museum felt that the diorama was "too emotional and distracting for educational purposes." Frederic Augustus Lucas defended Lion Attacking a Dromedary in 1914 from criticism of being overly theatrical by pointing out that by being theatrical the piece was interesting and drew the attention of museum patrons. By 2002, the diorama was seen as an example of "danger, excitement, and exoticism" of the other in orientalist works and was compared to a "sideshow attraction." Lion Attacking a Dromedary is considered to be Verreaux's masterpiece by journalist Miquel Molina in an article in Pula: Botswana Journal of African Studies.
French colonial empire the other diorama museum studies Dromedary Smithsonian Institution Pula: Botswana Journal of African Studies Frederic Augustus Lucas orientalist American Museum of Natural History