Allegory of Africa

Frédéric-Auguste Bartholdi

National Gallery of Art

A muscular, nearly nude Black man reclines on a lion’s skin in this freestanding bronze sculpture. In this photograph, his head is to our left and his feet extend to our right. His face tips down, and he has short, curly hair, a furrowed brow, and a small, rounded nose. His full lips are closed, and he has hollows in his cheeks. He leans onto his right elbow, closer to us, which rests on an object, perhaps a basket. His right knee is raised so that foot is flat on the ground. He clutches the bent leg just below the knee with his other hand, and his left leg stretches long. The lion’s head, with eyes closed, rests beneath the bent knee. Long fur, hair, or another material hangs from a rope around the man’s waist. He and the pelt rest on a narrow rectangular base. The dark patina of the bronze has been burnished or rubbed gold in some areas, especially along the ridges of the man’s muscles and on the extended foot.