Síntesi dels resultats
This lion has been in the Darder Museum in Banyoles since 1916, the year of its foundation. The animal comes from the personal collection that the naturalist Francesc Darder started around 1870, from purchases and donations from various sources, and which, in 1915, shortly after retiring, he donated to the Darder Museum in Banyoles.
Although it has not been possible to establish clearly how the lion came to be in the collection, it is very plausible that it came from a purchase made by Darder himself or from a donation or sale to the Barcelona Zoo, which he himself may have managed. It is also possible that Darder directly managed the purchase in Algeria.
Several sources have been consulted regarding the animals that were acquired, offered or sold by the Casa Darder, the Natural History Museum and the Barcelona Zoo—all institutions linked to Francesc Darder—and no definitive data has been found on the piece under study. Enquiries have also been made in French and English archives without success.
Chronological reconstruction of provenance
Darder obtained this lion most probably between the late 1870s and 1907.
At the end of the 1880s, Darder announced on several occasions in the magazine El naturalista, which he himself edited, that, among many other animals, he had lions for sale, although we have no record of when he completed his task of buying animals.
In 1915, the lion was transferred to the Darder Museum, which was inaugurated the following year.
Estimation of provenance
Possibly France
Possible alternative classifications
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Complementary sources
Archives:
Arxiu Històric del Museu d’Història Natural de Barcelona.
Inventari del Museu Darder. Espai d’Interpretació de l’Estany.
Bibliography:
Darder, Francisco de A. (1888). Gran museo de historia natural, de anatomía comparada, etnología, antropología, anatomía normal y patológica. Barcelona.
—(1894?). Manual práctico de veterinaria doméstica. Barcelona: Heinrich y cia.
El naturalista (1889). Any III, (9), 86.
—(1889). Any III, (10), 82-85.
—(1889). Any III, (11), 92-94.
—(1891). Any V, (2), 4.
Zoockeryx (1876). Any 1, (11), 2.
—(1877). Any II, (19), 6.
