The present bronze is after the original cast-iron lions modelled by sculptor Alfred Stevens for the main gates and railings of the British Museum. The railings were dismantled in 1895 and the lions dispersed, some of railings were later installed at St. Paul's Cathedral around the Wellington Monument which Stevens designed in 1856. The Covent Garden firm of Messrs D. Brucciani & Co. produced bronze casts of the lions from 1896 onwards.