In the “modern” world, the lion has maintained pride of place in art and architecture.
St. Mark, the evangelist, is usually depicted as a winged lion. He is the patron saint of Venice (at least since the Venetians smuggled his remains out of Alexandria, Egypt in 828 AD), therefore lions—winged or otherwise—are plentiful in that floating city. The lion above, sculpted in 1875 by Luigi Borro, can be found in the Campo Manin, Venice.
Lions abound elsewhere: they guard the Nelson Column in Trafalgar Square (London), they protect the emperor in The Forbidden City (Beijing), and they welcome readers at the New York Public Library (New York City). One of the world’s most famous lions is “The Lion of Lucerne” (1820-21, Switzerland), designed by Danish sculptor Bertel Thorvaldsen, in which a dying lion symbolizes the loss of Swiss Guard troops slaughtered during the Storming of the Tuileries Palace in 1792 (see this Journal’s entry for 10 August 2013).
Wherever pride, valor or ego may be found, lions are certain to be at-hand.
More tomorrow.