Kraft und List [Power and Cunning] (1880)
by Baron Josef Árpád Koppay von Drétoma (Hungarian, 1859–1927)
A lion rests against a winged woman in a cemetery. A chain encircles the lion's neck. The woman holds the other end — or perhaps she doesn't need to. The lion is not straining. It is leaning.
Baron Josef Árpád Koppay von Drétoma was an Austro-Hungarian portrait painter who worked across Vienna, Paris, and Rome, known for technically accomplished society portraits and allegorical works that carried a darker undercurrent than his commissions might suggest. Kraft und List — Power and Cunning — is one of his most striking allegorical paintings: the lion representing brute strength, the winged woman representing intelligence and strategy, the chain between them making the argument explicit.
The painting is a variation of an earlier work, The Strong and the Weak, in which the same figures appear without the cemetery setting and without the woman's wings. The additions are significant. The wings elevate cunning from mere cleverness to something closer to the divine. The cemetery suggests that this contest — between force and intelligence — has only one long-term outcome.
The lion is not the one holding the chain.
Rectangle Canvas Wrap
Gallery-quality canvas with fade-resistant inks and a 1.25" deep pine frame sourced from renewable forests. Arrives wrapped and ready to hang.
- Materials: cotton and polyester composite canvas, pine wood frame
- Inner frame: radiata pine from renewable forests
- Leveling bumpers included for wall protection
- Ready to hang — mounting hardware pre-attached
Care: Dust gently with a clean, damp cloth as needed.