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Johann Heinrich Wilhelm Tischbein

Picture of a family of lions struggling against a giant snake in front of a cave.

Johann Heinrich Wilhelm Tischbein, Der Tierlaokoon (The Animal Laocoön). 1796, etching on laid paper. Gift of Stephen and Elizabeth Crawford, Smart Museum of Art, The University of Chicago, 2016.106.

This etching represents a zoomorphic reinterpretation of the famous Laocoön Group sculpture, which, during the eighteenth century, was widely regarded as the paragon of classical artistic tradition. As he created this work, Johann Heinrich Wilhelm Tischbein was actively experimenting with comparative physiognomy, a practice that explored analogies between the human and animal world. The transformation of the sculpture’s human figures into lions is not the only alteration; the etching also embeds the scene into a rich natural landscape. Formal echoes, such as similarities between the lion’s tufted mane and the vegetation draped over the rocks, suggest a continuation of Tischbein’s interest in metamorphosis into the vegetal world. The rocky outcroppings meticulously frame the tumbling arrangement, giving the impression of a drama that has been momentarily paused. This raises the question: is the natural world around us a stage?

— Ellis LeBlanc