The Life of an 18th-century Swedish Taxidermist

Picture this: you’re an 18th-century Swede, never having seen an animal more exotic than a moose, and are tasked with preserving your king’s prized pet lion. The closest thing to a real lion you’ve seen is the one in the Wittelsbach coat of arms— where it has a sort-of awkward mullet situation going on. To rub salt into your already maggot-infested wound, you’re only given the beast’s pelt and bones. What do you even do? Do you hunker down and hope for the best, or do you flee and hope that King Frederick I doesn’t find you?

It’s not like this lion was a random pet an eccentric Baltic king (by marriage) happened to just have, either. It was a gift from the Bey of Algiers in 1731, following an agreement made two years prior protecting Swedish merchant ships from pirates off the coast of Algeria. It lived in a dedicated lion’s den in the king’s royal hunting ground until its death years later. This strange, large feline is more important than you ever have been or will be. There is no room for error.

However, your fate is sealed within the prison of glue and wire you have built yourself. This is your final result:

Oh.

You’ve learned that carving a tongue and teeth out of wood is not easy. Nor do you want to make eye contact with the beady glass eyes you’ve jammed into the corpse you’ve basically desecrated. The one thing you do get right, though, is that ferocious hairstyle. You hope that your hairdressing skills will trump your subpar taxidermy skills.

I couldn’t find any more information about what happened to this poor taxidermist. I’m going to live under the assumption that they lived a long, happy, and fulfilling life. Despite getting the odd feeling that someone is watching me whenever I look at this lion for too long, I can’t help but laugh. I’m sure this Swedish taxidermist tried their best— though they ended up fossilizing this creature into an eternal “kill-me-now-please-I-beg-of-you” pose. Its paw is forever reaching out for someone to save it from… damnation? Purgatory? The pain of looking like that? 

Europe’s greatest mammalian achievement is on display at Gripsholm Castle, which is around an hour-long train ride from Stockholm. Do with that information what you please. 

I love you, lion. Never stop being you.

Love, Sofia