Lot 350 Dα

Submission and Obedience



These two impressive lion sculptures originally rested to the right and left of the portal of a northern Italian church. On their backs they carried columns supporting a portico. They were thus part of the design of an entrance marking the entry into the spiritual world.
Traditional iconography explains the lion lying under a column as a symbol of a demonic force that submits. These serving lions are usually found to the right and left of church portals such as at San Zeno in Verona, the Duomo in Cremona and the Cattedrale di Santa Maria Assunta of Parma. Some of these lions have prey between their front paws, as for example in front of the Duomo in Modena. They represent the deadly evil. A radical composition in the tympanum above the portal of San Giovanni Fuorcivitas in Pistoia shows a human lying under the lion.

Deborah Kahn describes another connotation:
"The symbolism of the lion in twelfth century art varies considerably. Inscriptions suggest that the lion sometimes represented a diabolical force, but that it could also be given a positive meaning, as in Proverbs (30.30) where the lion is called “the strongest of all animals.” The Physiologus (a Greek natural history text of ca. 150) describes the lion as sleeping with its eyes open and never relaxing its guard. In this sense it may have stood as a symbol for Christ who never relaxed his vigilance in looking after his flock."
The guardian function of the pair of lions presented here is evident, with their eyes wide open and accentuated in colour. There is no prey between their paws that could represent danger and viciousness. Their upward gaze, the flattened ears, and anthropomorphic facial expressions express submission and obedience.