Tigers Disputing a Prey

Tigers Disputing a Prey is considered one of the highlights of Belgian animal sculpture. Jacques de Lalaing's study for the sculpture group goes back to the mid-1880s when he was working on a project for a lighting column, exhibited at the Brussels Salon of 1887. At the foot of the mast he then positioned fighting tigers. In contrast to most animalists of the fin de siècle, he did not study the animals in Antwerp Zoo. In order to approach nature as closely as possible, he bought himself a tiger. De Lalaing had his penchant for the exotic in common with his friend Fernand Scribe. Through him, two sculpture groups of De Lalaing were cast by order of the city of Ghent, both of which were placed in the Citadel Park: the River Lys and the Scheldt, and Tigers Disputing a Prey.