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Philadelphia Inquirer | Henry O. Tanner's Great Painting of a Wise Old Lion Now Belongs to PAFA
The Philadelphia Inquirer's Stephan Salisbury takes a closer look at PAFA's recent acquisitions to the permanent collection. PAFA acquired alumnus Henry Ossawa Tanner's portrait of Pomp the lion, completed in the 1880s:
Henry Ossawa Tanner, one of the nation’s most celebrated artists, happened to be a great painter of lions, a skill honed when the young art student was repeatedly dispatched to sketch at the Philadelphia Zoo by one of his most exacting teachers, Thomas Eakins.
Several Tanner lions can be seen in museums around the country, and now the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts has acquired its own, completed when Tanner was a student there.
Last Updated
February 5, 2020 - 1:51 PM