Ahmed ben Avuda and the Holy Lion

Sidi Ahmed ben Avuda was a fifteenth-century Muslim teacher and leader, or Marabout, said to have implored God for a sign that his services were regarded with favour. In response, a lion miraculously appeared, telling him ‘I am sent by God to do anything you require of me’. This beast, which here stands patiently by the preacher, later proceeded to accompany Avuda wherever he went, even carrying him on its back over long journeys as he preached. After Sidi Ahmed’s death, it was said to have appeared at his tomb every year and was led by the grave’s attendants through the surrounding provinces collecting alms.
The present lot was exhibited to great acclaim at the 1881 Royal Academy exhibition. Reviews related that the ‘splendidly painted’ picture was one ‘around which an admiring group was always gathered’ (The Boy’s Own Paper, op.cit.). Indeed, the painting is recorded in William Powell Frith’s famous, and detailed, representation of A Private View at the Royal Academy, 1881. Here the great and the good of late Victorian Society; from politicians to authors, ecclesiastics to artists, are gathered in admiration of the Academicians’ work. Hardy’s Ahmed ben Avuda and the Holy Lion, can be seen on the left, above the heads of Gladstone and Anthony Trollope, alongside submissions by James Sant and J.W. Waterhouse.