Isaac van Amburgh

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Isaac van Amburgh, around 1862
Van Amburgh and his lions . Engraving after a painting by Edwin Landseer 1847; published in the London Art Journal , 1879

Isaac van Amburgh (born May 26, 1808 in Fishkill , Dutchess County , New York , † November 29, 1865 in Philadelphia ) was an American tamer who was the first to put his head in a lion's mouth and who celebrated success in Europe with big cat dressage .

Live and act

Isaac van Amburgh left his hometown Fishkill at the age of 19 and tried his hand at various professions until he hired himself out at Raymond & Co. , a wandering trading menagerie with the largest animal population in the United States at the time.

Van Amburgh made his debut as a lion tamer in New York in 1833 with his own show with several lions in which he shoved his head into the mouth of a wildcat. Five years later, acclaimed equestrian Andrew Ducrow signed him and got him his first appearance at Astley’s in London , where he reportedly made £ 300 a week on his big cat show, which included lions, tigers and leopards . In 1839 he moved to the Drury Lane Theater . The young Queen Victoria attended his various programs, including, for example, the pantomime Harlequin Jack Frost with tigers and lions, at least six times. In 1848 he returned to Astley's , where he with his big cats in one piece, titled Morok the Beast Tamer ( Morok, the Beastmaster ) occurred on the Eugène Sue's The Eternal Jew based (1845). Isaac van Amburgh died of a heart attack in Philadelphia in 1865.

Isaac van Amburgh always appeared in an antique-looking costume that conjured up the Herakles myth, and presented himself with his big cats as their tamer. He invoked Genesis and its law of creation as ruler over all animals. He put the leopard over his shoulder and underlined his dressage performances with a whip, stick and pistol shots.

art

Edwin Landseer: Isaac van Amburgh with his animals . 1839

In London, the respected animal painter Sir Edwin Henry Landseer made two paintings in which he staged Isaac van Amburgh in the midst of his big cats. The first, made in 1839, showed van Amburgh in his antique costume stretched out in his cage and surrounded by his cats; He is holding a lamb in his arms in front of his chest, in the background the audience stares through the bars at the scene. The picture was acquired by Queen Victoria and has been part of the Royal Collection ever since . The second, which shows the tamer with his animals behind bars, was painted by Landseer on behalf of the Duke of Wellington ; he did not complete it before 1847. The picture quotes other paintings and refers to a symbolic content in objects and gestures .

literature

  • Simon Trussler, Clive Barker: New Theater Quarterly 78 . Cambridge University Press, 2005 pp. 139-141

Web links

Commons : Isaac van Amburgh  - album with pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ The Circus in America : On the dressage of Isaac van Amburgh ( Memento of July 4, 2011 in the Internet Archive )
  2. ↑ Simon Trussler, Clive Barker: New Theater Quarterly 78 . Cambridge University Press, 2005 p. 140
personal data
SURNAME Van Amburgh, Isaac
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American trainer
DATE OF BIRTH May 26, 1808
PLACE OF BIRTH Fishkill, New York
DATE OF DEATH November 29, 1865
Place of death Philadelphia