The Lion and the Mouse

Image credit: National Trust for Scotland, Culzean Castle, Garden & Country Park

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This painting depicts the final scene of a classic fable by Aesop: a tiny mouse, depicted in the lower right, arrives to rescue a captured lion by chewing through the ropes that have trapped it, the lion having previously released the mouse on the promise that one day the mouse would return the favour.

The picture derives from an original composition by the Flemish seventeenth-century artist Frans Snyders, the best of several versions being at Chequers, the country seat of the British Prime Minister. This version, which may well be based on an early engraving of the painting (because the composition is in reverse), is thought to be from the studio of Snyders' pupil, Paul de Vos.

National Trust for Scotland, Culzean Castle, Garden & Country Park

Maybole

Title

The Lion and the Mouse

Date

1630–1670

Medium

oil on canvas

Measurements

H 160 x W 228.5 cm

Accession number

45.1

Acquisition method

on loan from the Kennedy family

Work type

Painting

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Normally on display at

National Trust for Scotland, Culzean Castle, Garden & Country Park

Silver Avenue, Maybole, South Ayrshire KA19 8LE Scotland

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