Harvey is best known for his tabletop-size bronzes issued in large editions. Lion of the Desert is one such bronze, and it displays Harvey’s essentially naturalistic approach, although the skull adds an uncharacteristic narrative element. He favored wild over domestic animals and exotic over native. Felines, often lions, were his principal subject.
According to Roman Bronze Works’s records for 1904 to 1916 the foundry cast only one Lion of the Desert, on October 5, 1904, so the museum’s bronze may be a unique cast. The number two is, however, stamped into the underside of the base.
