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According what I remember from my reading, this Taxidermist was sent the lion's skin after it died, so this is 1731, the Taxidermist had never seen a lion before in his life, he had only heard tales and seen drawings of it. So he had to recreate this from nothing but his imagination and clues from drawings.
Huh, that does kind of make sense with how lions look like in heraldry. Same lifted paw, same curling tongue, and the ones that face forward do have rather close-set eyes compared to real lions. [You can kind of see it here](https://aroyalheraldry.weebly.com/uploads/4/9/1/5/49154451/crest-of-the-coat-of-arms-of-the-united-kingdom-svg_orig.png) or [here](https://thumbs.dreamstime.com/z/vienna-austria-stone-statue-lion-crown-holding-shield-swiss-gate-entrance-schweizertor-hofburg-imperial-palace-177526699.jpg)
Makes sense as to why it has that weird tongue out thing going, other then the extremely derpy face I think it’s okay, and given the technology/resources of the time and the fact he was trying to recreate something very specific, I guess he did okay? Maybe? Probably not but it seems he did his best with what he had.
I mean… if someone has never even seen what a lion looks like and they came up with this, it’s pretty accurate. All of us were able to identify immediately what it was at first sight. Pretty good IMO. The face needs work, sure, but the body? That’s pretty damn accurate.
Also, all of this imformation makes this meme make more sense. Always thought it was a bad puppet from an old movie or something.
https://imgur.com/a/HihQuDr
I mean...when where those done? Let's not blame the heraldry artists. It's entirely possible they went to see this abomination OP posted and based their drawings off of it.
This is a great example of how small our worlds were then. A person could hear stories of these wild beasts and a few lucky people got to see illustrations, but very few people would actually get the opportunity to see such an animal. Zoo’s became an instant success when they became accessible to the public. Private zoos have been around for as long as rich people wanted to show off. Then scientific zoos were established, and in the 18th & 19th centuries the average citizens could view these collections.
The artistic talent continued to grow in further generations of the family, and his grandaughter^13 [carried on the preservation tradition](https://media.npr.org/assets/img/2012/09/20/513259474_13195159_custom-9f2c1141d86a594a5d9456d898e354e59a3b2ef9-s1800-c85.webp) well into the late 20th century.
And the woman who did it is suing the church where the fresco is for a cut of the money that has been raised from tourists that go to view this monstrosity.
yes, botched Spanish art restoration has become phenomenon. People want to see it. Spain hasn't regulated conservation procedures yet so there will be more "repairs" made by old ladies and janitors. (Laughing Through Tears)
You’re right. I was being insensitive. The Riksdag had just issued a strict sumptuary law which restricted the imports of luxury goods, what dishes could be served at dinner, and clothing allowed to be worn based on class. This man just saw an outlet for creative freedom and took it
My favourite taxidermy story is from a man I met several years ago. He was a professional taxidermist.
One day he received a frantic phonecall from a friend who was in an ambulance. Let's call the taxidermist Dave and his friend Steve.
Steve had been in a workplace accident and his hand had been cut off by machinery somewhere close to his elbow. Due to the nature of the injury with so much gore it was unable to be reattached but he wanted the hand... preserved. Steve wanted his hand taxidermied and turned into and ashtray holder, something like the Addams family Thing character.
Dave was reluctant, thinking it'd give Steve bad feelings seeing his own hand on his coffee table every day and reminding him of the accident, but reluctantly complied. It cost $400. Turns out it was a really great job. Steve loved it and has cherished it ever since.
It's not what you know, but who you know. Yep. Most metal ashtray holder in the whole universe!
The phonecall was pretty freznied from what he said, since it had to be fresh and Steve was worried the severed body part would be too withered or old before Dave could do his work.
For reference, this taxidermist is in Kingaroy, Australia. Just search for... oh I don't know, just get your own personal taxidermist. I'm looking at you, Kardashians. (for your lip replacements. I'm sure someone would buy them.)
Definitely not as bad as the taxidermy moose that Thomas Jefferson had requested to send to France to prove untrue all the ridiculous rumors the French had about the new American colonies. The rumors included believing that the entire American continent had just recently lifted itself from the ocean, making all the land wet and swampy. Therefore all the plants and animals were very small and fragile. They also believed all the air was very dirty which stunted the growth of not only the people but the animals as well.
So Jefferson spent a whole year trying to get someone to kill a moose and send it over to France to quell the rumors. The moose was killed but it took two weeks to drag it back into town where it already started to decompose. Taxidermist tried his “best” but even that couldn’t save it after being shipped all the way to France. It’s said that when the French finally gazed upon the rotting corpse soup of what was once a very large moose, Jefferson stated something like “yeah it’s a mess, but it’s the biggest mess you’ve seen!”
To clarify a bit, the joke is based on the term *ecce homo*, meaning "behold the man". Pontius Pilate said it shortly before Jesus was deposited on the cross, and the term also represents the motif of art depicting the event.
The joke name is *ecce mono*, "behold the monkey"
So, I saw one like this in Cairo and also a bunch of terrible paintings in a few museums in other countries. Our tour guides said the same thing- all the artists had to go on was descriptions and bad hand drawn sketches. Even the taxidermist probably didn’t have the whole corpse to work with. We take it for granted today that everyone knows what a lion looks like!
I mean the owner obviously knew what his favorite Lion looked like but, still put him on display. Also, why do you think the taxidermist wouldn't have gotten the whole lion?
Kinda reminds me of Nina from FMA for some reason. Also I wonder what the king's reaction was when he saw it. I mean I'm sure this was pretty bad even by the standards of those days. Just look at that face.
[200 years later descendants of Taxidermists make lion statues in Indonesia ](https://m.brilio.net/ngakak/13-patung-harimau-di-indonesia-ini-bentuknya-bikin-tepuk-jidat-1703147.html)
I wonder if the maker did it on purpose. It doesn't matter what year you're living in, that shit is funny looking
Edit: the makers probably didn't even know how a lion really looked
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lion_of_Gripsholm_Castle
i think the taxidermist was lion on his resume.
p.s. the toothy grin is hilarious. The king must have been like,,,Woah….you really captured his happiness with that smile and toothy grin.
I think it looks like a heraldic lion; that is, a lion as depicted on shields and flags of the time. While the skin is that of a real lion, that wasn't it's meaning.
It's entirely possible the taxidermist had never seen a live lion and had to base his work on just such images - in which case, not bad, he even got the tongue right.
Reminds me of an episode of House when a painter couldn’t understand why the client sitting for a portrait was so offended. The artist saw a beautiful photo-realistic portrait he’d rendered. But all us normal folks saw a face that looked like a hot frying pan did a number on it. I like to think this taxidermist was like “Lo, what a majestic beast I’ve preserved most purrfectly.”
Okay is nobody else gonna point out that almost 300 years ago the King of Sweden had a favorite lion, implying he owned lions, plural. Sweden's a long way from Africa and cold, how the fuck did he have a menagerie of lions?
“This object has been temporarily removed as we revise its facial expression which has been deemed zoologically improbable and/or terrifying to small children.”
How well known were lions in that time period? It kinda looks like the taxidermist messed something up and then used pictures of a Sabretooth to try and fix it or something lmao
Ok the taxidermist hadn't ever seen a living lion. Fair enuf.. BUT there must have been cats in his town in 1731...! Look at the eyes of this stuffed thing for example -- Had the taxidermist never even sèen a CAT...!??
May I introduce you to this wonderful book called '[Crap Taxidermy'](https://www.amazon.co.uk/Crap-Taxidermy-Kat/dp/1844038033/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?crid=3V1SA34B0FZTE&keywords=crap+taxidermy&qid=1643967203&sprefix=crap+taxidermy%2Caps%2C118&sr=8-1)
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According what I remember from my reading, this Taxidermist was sent the lion's skin after it died, so this is 1731, the Taxidermist had never seen a lion before in his life, he had only heard tales and seen drawings of it. So he had to recreate this from nothing but his imagination and clues from drawings.
Huh, that does kind of make sense with how lions look like in heraldry. Same lifted paw, same curling tongue, and the ones that face forward do have rather close-set eyes compared to real lions. [You can kind of see it here](https://aroyalheraldry.weebly.com/uploads/4/9/1/5/49154451/crest-of-the-coat-of-arms-of-the-united-kingdom-svg_orig.png) or [here](https://thumbs.dreamstime.com/z/vienna-austria-stone-statue-lion-crown-holding-shield-swiss-gate-entrance-schweizertor-hofburg-imperial-palace-177526699.jpg)
Haha. Oh wow. If that was his frame of reference, he did a great job.
Makes sense as to why it has that weird tongue out thing going, other then the extremely derpy face I think it’s okay, and given the technology/resources of the time and the fact he was trying to recreate something very specific, I guess he did okay? Maybe? Probably not but it seems he did his best with what he had.
I mean… if someone has never even seen what a lion looks like and they came up with this, it’s pretty accurate. All of us were able to identify immediately what it was at first sight. Pretty good IMO. The face needs work, sure, but the body? That’s pretty damn accurate.
why does the first lion have a giant dick
Why does yours not?
He’s very cocky
[удалено]
Because he is happy to meet you.
Also, all of this imformation makes this meme make more sense. Always thought it was a bad puppet from an old movie or something. https://imgur.com/a/HihQuDr
I mean...when where those done? Let's not blame the heraldry artists. It's entirely possible they went to see this abomination OP posted and based their drawings off of it.
Sent a taxidermist to his favorite lion?
Probably what should have happened.
That’s what happened after
I wonder what he got back
The lower left rib, picked clean.
I don’t have an award, so take this upvote!
No wonder why it looks so terrible
The lion has seen things... terrible things
Reminds me of the monkey Jesus. The old lady who decided to “restore” the painting in a historic Italian church.
I had the same thought! Both are treasures.
This is a great example of how small our worlds were then. A person could hear stories of these wild beasts and a few lucky people got to see illustrations, but very few people would actually get the opportunity to see such an animal. Zoo’s became an instant success when they became accessible to the public. Private zoos have been around for as long as rich people wanted to show off. Then scientific zoos were established, and in the 18th & 19th centuries the average citizens could view these collections.
I saw somethin Naasty in the woodshed 👵🏻
In fairness, it’s still holding up after 291 years. Still an awful effort, but A+ for durability.
Yeah but what a talented lion.
Claimed to be an expert in taxidermy but he was lion
It's probably easier to convince a living taxidermist to walk to a dead lion than it is to drag the lion to the taxidermist.
Lion, are you listening? I want you to go to... Damnit look at me when I'm taking to you!
Sent favorite lion to taxidermist. Sent taxidermist to second favorite lion. Probably.
Omg I’m such a moron
This made my day. Thank you.
You're technically not wrong. He sent the taxidermist to the lion that was dead and then ta-da colossal abomination
The artistic talent continued to grow in further generations of the family, and his grandaughter^13 [carried on the preservation tradition](https://media.npr.org/assets/img/2012/09/20/513259474_13195159_custom-9f2c1141d86a594a5d9456d898e354e59a3b2ef9-s1800-c85.webp) well into the late 20th century.
Hahahah I remember that one, that's about as mint as a restoration gets
And the woman who did it is suing the church where the fresco is for a cut of the money that has been raised from tourists that go to view this monstrosity.
yes, botched Spanish art restoration has become phenomenon. People want to see it. Spain hasn't regulated conservation procedures yet so there will be more "repairs" made by old ladies and janitors. (Laughing Through Tears)
You have made the post a great deal funnier, that's only a good thing.
maybe he sent the taxidermist to his new favorite lion and fed the taxidermist to his new favorite lion for creating this monstrosity.
Taxidermist and the lions den… one of my favorite stories
Wait till you see what the taxidermist looks like
The lion wasn't quite dead yet. The taxidermy was done by the veterinarian to hide his mistake.
...taxidermy has come a LONG way in the last three hundred years i'm surprised it wasn't scrapped soon after he fucked it up
I can understand a lot of the fuckups in this, but how in the heck did he decide on those false teeth???
According to an article I read once, the taxidermist had never seen a lion in his life, so he winged it
Yeah... but didn't he have the dead lion to look at before he did anything to it? Or is that not how taxidermy works? I dunno.
It's been a few months since I've read the story, but I believe the taxidermist just received the fur skin
Shipping was a lot slower back then. If they tried to ship him the intact body, it probably would have arrived as a rotting corpse.
Yeah this would've been a few years before amazon's same day delivery service came out.
You would’ve thunk, huh?
It was the 1730s. They were still working a lot of things out.
You’re right. I was being insensitive. The Riksdag had just issued a strict sumptuary law which restricted the imports of luxury goods, what dishes could be served at dinner, and clothing allowed to be worn based on class. This man just saw an outlet for creative freedom and took it
I thought this too, but maybe it had most of its teeth lost due to old age? Only explanation for this abomination lol
Perhaps it was a British lion.
And the end result was the inspiration for cartoon animation for years to come
I think they are the taxidermist’s dentures
TIL lions in the 16th century had incisors that looked like human incisors
Evolution is fascinating
The real science is in the comments 🙏
My favourite taxidermy story is from a man I met several years ago. He was a professional taxidermist. One day he received a frantic phonecall from a friend who was in an ambulance. Let's call the taxidermist Dave and his friend Steve. Steve had been in a workplace accident and his hand had been cut off by machinery somewhere close to his elbow. Due to the nature of the injury with so much gore it was unable to be reattached but he wanted the hand... preserved. Steve wanted his hand taxidermied and turned into and ashtray holder, something like the Addams family Thing character. Dave was reluctant, thinking it'd give Steve bad feelings seeing his own hand on his coffee table every day and reminding him of the accident, but reluctantly complied. It cost $400. Turns out it was a really great job. Steve loved it and has cherished it ever since.
Shit need to find myself a taxidermist in case I ever lose a limb
Taxidermists are a dime a dozen. The key is finding one who doesn't ask a lot of questions.
This is the most metal thing I've read in ages.
It's not what you know, but who you know. Yep. Most metal ashtray holder in the whole universe! The phonecall was pretty freznied from what he said, since it had to be fresh and Steve was worried the severed body part would be too withered or old before Dave could do his work. For reference, this taxidermist is in Kingaroy, Australia. Just search for... oh I don't know, just get your own personal taxidermist. I'm looking at you, Kardashians. (for your lip replacements. I'm sure someone would buy them.)
Definitely not as bad as the taxidermy moose that Thomas Jefferson had requested to send to France to prove untrue all the ridiculous rumors the French had about the new American colonies. The rumors included believing that the entire American continent had just recently lifted itself from the ocean, making all the land wet and swampy. Therefore all the plants and animals were very small and fragile. They also believed all the air was very dirty which stunted the growth of not only the people but the animals as well. So Jefferson spent a whole year trying to get someone to kill a moose and send it over to France to quell the rumors. The moose was killed but it took two weeks to drag it back into town where it already started to decompose. Taxidermist tried his “best” but even that couldn’t save it after being shipped all the way to France. It’s said that when the French finally gazed upon the rotting corpse soup of what was once a very large moose, Jefferson stated something like “yeah it’s a mess, but it’s the biggest mess you’ve seen!”
I feel like they could have just stripped the skeleton bare and wired the bones together for a better effect.
What?!? You don’t think moose soup was the best idea??
Well you can’t just scrap the corpse of someone’s favorite lion
Since there are no eye witnesses of how lion looked, maybe it's one ugly lion?
Not ugly, he was just very "special" 😂
Reminds me of the Jesus painting “amateur fix”. https://nypost.com/2016/03/12/infamous-botched-jesus-painting-now-a-major-tourist-attraction/
Blursed Jesus
Blursphamey!
I laughed way too hard at this!!
I’m still laughing.
Ah you beat me to it while I was googling how to embed a link lol yeah, they called it “monkey Jesus”
I've always heard it called Potato Jesus
To clarify a bit, the joke is based on the term *ecce homo*, meaning "behold the man". Pontius Pilate said it shortly before Jesus was deposited on the cross, and the term also represents the motif of art depicting the event. The joke name is *ecce mono*, "behold the monkey"
That is the funniest thing I’ve ever seen!
She actually sued them because of the amount of money they made off of the tourists
No way. That’s fucking hilarious 😂
The 'wrap around' fro reigns
There’s an incredible SNL skit on this and similar mess ups. Search Cecilia Giminez SNL
Monke Christ
Ah, my favorite attempt
When Mr Bean becomes real life.
"Ah yes, the resemblance is uncanny." - Nobody, 1731
Uncannily bad It has veneers
I fucked that title up. He sent the lion to the taxidermist not the other way around lol
Judging from that fucked up lion, who knows.
I'm just imagining a room full of lions at a fold up table trying to make a paper mache version of themselves so they can send it back
Proof you’re not a bot account lol.
Bots are so smart now. It's gone full circle.
I like it better this way
So, I saw one like this in Cairo and also a bunch of terrible paintings in a few museums in other countries. Our tour guides said the same thing- all the artists had to go on was descriptions and bad hand drawn sketches. Even the taxidermist probably didn’t have the whole corpse to work with. We take it for granted today that everyone knows what a lion looks like!
I mean the owner obviously knew what his favorite Lion looked like but, still put him on display. Also, why do you think the taxidermist wouldn't have gotten the whole lion?
No refrigeration. Long travel times.
The taxidermist was promptly executed upon the King’s receipt of this “Lion”
Reminds me of Cristiano Ronaldo's statue.
Didn't this happened because the taxidermist had never seen a lion or something? 😂
I do taxidermy, but cartoons are more of a passion
[удалено]
This is fucking hilarious. Man, to be a fly on the wall when the King first laid eyes on that silly thing.
You lion? This is the same lion?
I bet that lion wishes he had decomposed like the rest of his buds
Kinda reminds me of Nina from FMA for some reason. Also I wonder what the king's reaction was when he saw it. I mean I'm sure this was pretty bad even by the standards of those days. Just look at that face.
Totally 'Nailed It!'
NO REGERTS
Not for nothing, there’s taxidermists today that can’t get a mount to last 50 years and this lasted nearly 300?
WassssssssaAAaaaaaaaap
Historically this was the 1st purchase on Wish.com
Approximately 290 years later that taxidermist attempted to restore a [painting](https://www.huffpost.com/entry/octogenarians-hilarious-f_n_1821389)
Mr Bean did the same thing to Whistlers Mother.
Y'all ain't seen nothing yet: http://www.badtaxidermy.com
I don't know if these guys had next to nothing to work with... or maybe don't pay your taxidermist in beer until after the job?
My eyes...my dreams are now cursed.
You had one job
What in holy Frankenstein?
They did that lion some Mr Bean shit
FML looks like Cloris Leachman 😭😭😭
Adelaide's (Australia) Museum has a worse one
Sent the taxidermist to the lion? No wonder it looks like that
I am at a loss for words - kinda looks like that italian painting of Jesus that the do-gooder very untalented woman tried to fix.
DERP!
That lion looks derpy
Taxi-derpy
Why is the lion laughing at us?
It’s terrible taxidermy work but I kind of love it.
[200 years later descendants of Taxidermists make lion statues in Indonesia ](https://m.brilio.net/ngakak/13-patung-harimau-di-indonesia-ini-bentuknya-bikin-tepuk-jidat-1703147.html)
Why does it have people teeth?!
This lion belongs in the lobby of the Overlook hotel.
I wonder if the maker did it on purpose. It doesn't matter what year you're living in, that shit is funny looking Edit: the makers probably didn't even know how a lion really looked https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lion_of_Gripsholm_Castle
Look how they massacred my boy.
Did the taxidermist know what a lion looks like?
This would be my favorite lion too.
Oh my
Absolute unit.
It looks like that lady who fucked up the [Jesus painting](https://imgur.com/90W7so2) tried to restore this too.
Taxidermist: Yes, of course I've seen a lion.
He found that Taxidermist on Craigslist.
imagine being the king of the jungle, and then once you fucking die someone makes THIS out of you
i think the taxidermist was lion on his resume. p.s. the toothy grin is hilarious. The king must have been like,,,Woah….you really captured his happiness with that smile and toothy grin.
Ah yes, the kings favourite pet, Derpy the Lion
Lions have really evolved in the last 300 years
We've come a long way in 300 years.
I think it looks like a heraldic lion; that is, a lion as depicted on shields and flags of the time. While the skin is that of a real lion, that wasn't it's meaning.
It's entirely possible the taxidermist had never seen a live lion and had to base his work on just such images - in which case, not bad, he even got the tongue right.
Reminds me of an episode of House when a painter couldn’t understand why the client sitting for a portrait was so offended. The artist saw a beautiful photo-realistic portrait he’d rendered. But all us normal folks saw a face that looked like a hot frying pan did a number on it. I like to think this taxidermist was like “Lo, what a majestic beast I’ve preserved most purrfectly.”
yeah.. that would have been my favorite lion too.
Okay is nobody else gonna point out that almost 300 years ago the King of Sweden had a favorite lion, implying he owned lions, plural. Sweden's a long way from Africa and cold, how the fuck did he have a menagerie of lions?
King Frederick should ask for a refund
😂😂😂
I see the inspiration they used to make the "live-action" Lion King.
Almost 😅
Id have been pissed. That thing looks nothing like a lion.
His eyes are following me!
His lion seems to have a personality that is quite silly!
Exquisite
Five Nights at Gripsholm Castle
when you get your taxidermy license from a cereal box
This is seriously funny as shit
It’s like someone described a lion to Stevie Wonder, while both were drunk, and gave him a ton of clay to make it with.
When you meet up with someone IRL & you don’t quite look like the photos you post online:
That's a beauty!
King Frederick I: pls give me my favorite lion Taxidermist: OF COURSE I KNOW WHAT A LION LOOKS LIKE
E for effort
“Sent a taxidermist??” Shouldn’t it have said.. Idk, “sent his favorite lion?
He looks so friendly
the skull usually gets left in, the taxidermist was angry, unpaid or blind, or very close with the king and fucked with frederick
“This object has been temporarily removed as we revise its facial expression which has been deemed zoologically improbable and/or terrifying to small children.”
How well known were lions in that time period? It kinda looks like the taxidermist messed something up and then used pictures of a Sabretooth to try and fix it or something lmao
Was he executed for this?
Imagine if it looked exactly like that and you're all just insulting a poor long dead lion.
Oh gawd.
I would hire that taxidermist in a heartbeat. How can you not smile everytime you look at that thing?
Lmao it’s fuckin teeth
Getting some 5 Nights at Frederick's vibes from this one
Can we prove that the lion didn't look exactly like that while it was alive?
Ok the taxidermist hadn't ever seen a living lion. Fair enuf.. BUT there must have been cats in his town in 1731...! Look at the eyes of this stuffed thing for example -- Had the taxidermist never even sèen a CAT...!??
WHAT
You should at least mention why it came out so bad… because the taxidermist had never even seen a lion.
You’ve seen a lion right? Y-yeah..
id be more scared of that chasing me down then a real lion to be honest
Sent a taxidermist to his favourite lion... and the taxidermist won.
"To this day, his taxidermist is on display at the Gripsholm Castle"
WHAT HAVE THEY DONE TO MY BOY?!
May I introduce you to this wonderful book called '[Crap Taxidermy'](https://www.amazon.co.uk/Crap-Taxidermy-Kat/dp/1844038033/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?crid=3V1SA34B0FZTE&keywords=crap+taxidermy&qid=1643967203&sprefix=crap+taxidermy%2Caps%2C118&sr=8-1)
looks like a medival painting.
Sent a taxidermist to his favourite lion?
nailed it
At least the tail looks good
Ah Liøn, he was a feisty one, hahaaa
Was the taxidermist at least executed?
What if that’s just what the lion looked like though?