After the 50th Classic Monday celebration last week, we start again with our weekly appointment dedicated to the ancient.

Our Classic Monday today has as protagonists two sculptures in white Carrara marble, depicting a pair of lions.

The felines are portrayed squatting, one with their jaws wide open, almost in a defensive attitude, while the other in a resting position.
The marble has been finely worked and meticulously engraved in the detailed definition of the details.
The sculptor has skillfully chiseled in the description of the feral features and the locks of the mane. Even the anatomies are well described and the search for verisimilitude and naturalness suggest that the artist had long studied other depictions of felines, if not even had the opportunity to see them directly from life.

Certainly it is legible some grotesque forcing, typically late nineteenth century, in the definition of some details.

For example, the legs with long claws have unnaturally elongated fingers, as if they were the clutches of a bird of prey or an almost “dragonish” animal. On the other hand, the taste for the fearful and the monstrous is typical of the nineteenth century; With the neo-Gothic is also exhumed all that catalog of bestiary that crowded the medieval architecture, such as the gargoyles.

Certainly our two lions refer to this sample, probably born as ornamental sculptures for a garden, or for an entrance, placed to decorate the sides of an entrance.

The choice of the lion is also related to the meaning transmitted.

The feline symbol of strength and power becomes a reason for celebratory presentation of the family, synonymous with nobility and pride.

Marbles of great executive quality, still today are of great scenographic impact, impressive sculptural works of art and with a great furnishing capacity.

See you next time with a new Classic Monday!