Leo Bensemann

Aotearoa New Zealand, b.1912, d.1986

Leo Bensemann Ex Libris

  • c. 1935
  • Ink on paper
  • Gift of Anna Leonie, 2025
  • 196 x 132mm
  • 2025/182

The inscription is taken from Horace. The complete line is

Atqui non ego te tigris ut aspera Gaetulusve leo frangere persequor

which can be translated as

And yet I’m not pursuing you to hurt you like a fierce tiger, or a Gaetulian lion

(Horace, Odes, Book 1, number 23)