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'Lion Rouge' or 'Au Lion Rouge' (Red Lion) was a popular name for a restaurant, public house or hotel. It may have been translated from German (der Roter Löwe) to French, since most inscriptions on Whistler's Rhineland sketches are in French. For instance there is a handsome timbered Roter Löwe in Heiligkreuzsteinach, Baden-Wurttemberg, just north-east of Heidelberg, which is the area in which Whistler was travelling.

Sitter

George Sauer may have been a publican, the proprietor of the 'Lion Rouge'. The drawing may have been done in settlement of Whistler's account.