Medici lions

Pair of marble sculptures of lions

This article is about the sculptures of lions with spheres. For the heraldic symbol of Florence, see Marzocco.

Fancelli's ancient lion Vacca's lion

The Medici lions are a pair of marble sculptures of lions: one of which is Roman, dating to the 2nd century AD, and the other a 16th-century pendant. By 1598 both were placed at the Villa Medici, Rome.[1] Since 1789 they have been displayed at the Loggia dei Lanzi in Florence. The sculptures depict standing male lions with a sphere or ball under one paw, looking to the side.

Copies of the Medici lions have been made and publicly installed in over 30 other locations, and smaller versions made in a variety of media. Medici lion has become a term for this sculptural type.[2]

The Albani lion, a similar ancient sculpture, now at the Louvre

A similar Roman lion sculpture, of the 1st century AD, is known as the Albani lion, and is now in the Louvre. Here, the stone used for the ball is different from the basalt body. Both may derive from a Hellenistic original.[3]

## History

[edit]

A pair of lions were required by Ferdinando I de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany, who had acquired the Villa Medici in 1576, to serve as majestic ornaments for the villa's garden staircase, the Loggia dei leoni. The first lion originates from a 2nd-century[4] marble that was first mentioned in 1594, by the sculptor Flaminio Vacca,[5] by which time it was already in the collection of Ferdinando;[6] Vacca reported that it had been found in the via Prenestina, outside Porta San Lorenzo. According to Vacca, the lion had been a relief, which was carved free of its background and reworked by "Giovanni Sciarano" or Giovanni di Scherano Fancelli, of whom little is now known.[7]

The second was made and signed[8] by Vacca, also in marble, as a pendant to the ancient sculpture at a date variously reported as between 1594 and 1598[4] or between 1570 and 1590.[9][10] The pair were in place at the Loggia dei Leoni in 1598[1] The pendant was made from a capital that had come from the Temple of Jupiter Optimus Maximus.[10]

The Villa Medici was inherited by the house of Lorraine in 1737, and in 1787[4][11][12] the lions were moved to Florence, and since 1789[11] they flank the steps to the Loggia dei Lanzi at the Piazza della Signoria.

The sculptures were replaced by copies at the Villa Medici when Napoleon relocated the French Academy in Rome to the villa in 1803.[13] These copies were made by the French sculptor Augustin Pajou.[12]

* The original Medici lions at the Villa Medici (Giovanni Francesco Venturini 1691)

* The current Medici Lions at the Villa Medici in Rome

* Medici Lion by Augustin Pajou at the Villa Medici

* The Medici coat of arms with five balls, above Loggia dei leoni

## Copies

[edit]

Study of one of the Medici Lions by Giuseppe Bernardino Bison (1762–1844)

The original Medici lions (1598) have since 1789 stood in the Loggia dei Lanzi, Piazza della Signoria, Florence. There is a smaller bronze left-looking sculpture attributed to Italian sculptor Pietro da Barga[14] and the same period.[9] Later copies or replicas include (ordered by first year):

### Spain

[edit]

* Twelve sculptures in bronze by Matteo Bonucelli da Lucca, commissioned in Rome by Velázquez for the Room of Mirrors at the Royal Alcazar of Madrid (1651):
* Four sculptures are now in the throne room [es] in the Royal Palace of Madrid (since 1764).[15]
* Eight sculptures are now in the Museo del Prado, of which four support the tabletop of Rodrigo Calderón.[15][16]
* Sculptures in Colmenar marble at the Montforte Gardens [es], Valencia by José Bellver (circa 1860).[17][18]
* Sculptures in marble at the Canalejas Park [es], Alicante (park created 1886).

Staffordshire figure of a Medici lion, enamels on Lead-glazed earthenware, circa 1820.

### Sweden

[edit]

* Sculpture in bronze in the Royal Swedish Academy of Arts building, Stockholm (before 1735?).[19]
* Sculpture in bronze at the Royal Institute of Art, Stockholm (1995).
* Sculpture in bronze in Nacka, Stockholm (1996).[20][21]

### Great Britain

[edit]

* Sculptures in lead at Stowe House attributed to John Cheere (around 1755–779). Formerly placed at Stanley Park, Blackpool (1927–2013).[22][23]
* Sculpture in the park of Kedleston Hall, carved by Joseph Wilton (around 1760–70).[24][25]
* Two artificial stone versions are found in the garden of Osborne House (1845–1851), Isle of Wight.[26]
* Sculptures at the Stanley Park, Blackpool (2013).[a]

### Russia and Ukraine

[edit]

One of the Medici lions at the Vorontsov Palace, Crimea, ca 1900

Versions in Saint Petersburg, Russia include:

* The Lion Cascade [Львиный каскад] in bronze at Peterhof Palace (1799–1801).
* Sculptures in marble at the Lobanov-Rostovsky Residence (constructed 1817–20).[28][29]
* Sculptures in bronze at the staircase of the Mikhailovsky Palace (constructed 1819–25).[30]
* Sculptures at the entrance of Yelagin Palace (completed 1822).
* The Lions at the Dvortsovaya pier in bronze at the Admiralty embankment (1832).
* Sculptures at the pier on the western point of Yelagin Island (1926).[31]

Versions in southern Russia and later Ukraine include:

* Sculptures in marble at the Vorontsov Palace, Odessa (now Ukraine, completed 1830).
* One pair of marble lion sculptures at the Voronstov Palace, Crimea (installed in 1848).[32]
* Pair of lion sculptures at Starosinnyi Garden, Odessa (now Ukraine, unknown year).[33]
* Lion sculpture at the National University of Life and Environmental Sciences of Ukraine Botanical Garden.[34]

### Italy

[edit]

* Sculptures in marble by Augustin Pajou at the Villa Medici (1803).[13]

### Germany

[edit]

* Four miniature versions surrounding the Akademie- or Löwenbrunnen in the palace garden (1807–1811), Stuttgart.
* Two gilded versions as part of the Lion Fountain in front of Glienicke Palace (1824–26), Berlin.
* Statues at the entrance of Schloss Monrepos, Ludwigsburg (of unknown origin).[35][better source needed]

### Cuba

[edit]

* Two versions outside the Cathedral de la Purisma Concepción in Cienfuegos (built 1833–69), Cuba.

### United States

[edit]

The newly re-installed lions at the western end of the Bridge of Lions, in St. Augustine, Florida. Donated by Andrew Anderson

* The Florentine Lions in cast-iron in the Fairmount Park, Philadelphia (cast in 1849 at the Alexandroffsky Head Mechanical Works, St Petersburg, Russia for Andrew M. Eastwick, originally displayed at Bartram's Garden, 1851–1879, installed at west Fairmount Park in 1887).[36]
* Medici Lions, at Bowdoin College Museum of Art, Bowdoin College, Maine.[b]
* Stone sculptures, Mick and Mack, at McMicken Hall, The University of Cincinnati, Ohio (there since 1904).[c]
* The pair of lions on the western end of the eponymous Bridge of Lions in St. Augustine, Florida (constructed 1925–1927, rebuilt 2011–2012).[40]
* Sculpture in limestone at the Museum of Outdoor Arts, Colorado (founded 1981).[41]

### Estonia

[edit]

* The Swedish lion in bronze in Narva, Estonia. A version of one of the Slottslejonen was first erected in 1936 but destroyed 1944 during the battle of Narva of the Second World War. A sized-down copy of the Medici Lion in the Royal Swedish Academy of Arts was re-erected in 2000.

### Lithuania

[edit]

Vytautas the Great War Museum in Kaunas, Lithuania

* Sculptures of lions in bronze at the staircase of the Vytautas the Great War Museum in Kaunas, Lithuania[d]

### France

[edit]

* Several[43] sculptures at the Terrasse des Orangers in Parc de Saint-Cloud, Hauts-de-Seine, Paris (of unknown origin).[44]

### Hungary

[edit]

* Statues at Pétervására, Hungary (of unknown origin).[45][better source needed]

## Close imitations

[edit]

Slottslejonen at the Royal Palace, Stockholm

* Sweden: Slottslejonen (Swedish for The Palace Lions) in bronze, by Bernard Foucquet at the Royal Palace, Stockholm (1700–1704).
* United Kingdom: Sculptures in bronze at the Queen's Gate entrance to Royal Victoria Park in Bath (1818–1819).[e]
* Belgium: Lion of Waterloo in iron,[citation needed] by Jean-François Van Geel in Waterloo (1826).
* India: Fitzgerald Bridge statue in Pune, India (1866).
* Spain: The Leones del Congreso: Daoiz y Velarde [es] in bronze at the Congress of Deputies, Madrid, Cast in 1865, installed 1872.[46]
* Finland: Parolan Leijona (Finnish for The Lion of Parola) on a four-meter-high (13 ft) pedestal in Hattula. Erected in 1868 to commemorate the 1863 visit by Alexander II of Russia.[47]
* Barbados: The Lion at Gun Hill carved from a single piece of coral stone in 1868 by Captain Henry John Wilkinson, who was stationed there. It is situated southeast and below the Gun Hill Signal Station, overlooking the St. George Valley.[48][49]
* Germany: The lions of the Feldherrnhalle in the Odeonsplatz in Munich are a work of Wilhelm von Rümann, added in 1906 in imitation of the Medici lions of the Loggia dei Lanzi.[citation needed]

## In popular culture

[edit]

Medici Lions have appeared, often downsized and sometimes anachronistically, in films including The Plague of Florence (1919), The Black Shield of Falworth (1954), It Happened in Rome (1957), The Godfather (1972, in the garden of the Corleone family estate), History of the World, Part I (1981), The Concert (2009), and many others.[2]

## See also

[edit]

* Marzocco (the heraldic symbol of Florence)
* The Albani lion (the 1st century Roman lion with a sphere)
* Cultural depictions of lions
* Chinese guardian lions

## References

[edit]

### Explanatory notes

[edit]

1. ^ These were produced, by Rupert Harris Conservation, using casts from the former sculptures which were returned, on loan, to Stowe house in 2013.[27]
2. ^ The Museum’s landmark Walker Art Building was commissioned for the College by Harriet and Sophia Walker in honor of their uncle, a Boston businessman who had supported the creation of the first small art gallery at Bowdoin in the mid-nineteenth century. Designed by Charles Follen McKim of McKim, Mead, & White, the building was completed in 1894 and is on the National Register of Historic Places.[37][38]
3. ^ The pair of lions originally belonged to Jacob Hoffner, a wealthy Cincinnati landowner who bequeathed them to the University upon his death in 1891. They were transported to their current location in 1904.[39]
4. ^ They were donated by Lithuanian count Jonas Jurgis Tiškevičius (1917–1987) in 1938 from his Astravas Manor in Biržai suburb (decorative sculptures of lions that stood at the entrance to the manor were replaced with copies). Sculptures was made in Saint Petersburg's factory commissioned by Lithuanian count Jonas Tiškevčius in the middle of the 19th century.[42]
5. ^ Renovated in 2007 to include the ball under the paw. Produced around 1818, they were commissioned by Charles Geary Esq, for inclusion in the new Masonic Hall in York Street, Bath, which was opened on 23 September 1819 with great ceremony, by the Grand Master of England, HEH the Duke of Sussex, attended by 800 to 1000 Freemasons in full regalia. 'The Historic Guide to Bath 1864' records the event and details "the master's chair stood on a throne of black and white marble, supported by lions, their feet resting on balls." The elaborate building immediately ran into financial trouble and soon closed. In 1842, Geary, having secured the debts and in order to pay them off, sold the hall to the Society of Friends, in whose care it remains, and the elaborate contents (known as 'The Bath Furniture') to Loyal Lodge No 251, Barnstable, Devon, where they also remain to this day. The lions, however, did not make the trip, legend suggesting there was no cart available to transport them. They were, therefore, presented to the city and the same 'The Historic Guide to Bath 1864' later records "At the side entrances, over the Queen's Gate, leading to the Royal Avenue are Bronzed Lions, presented by Mr. Geary." They were restored in 2007.[citation needed]

### Citation notes

[edit]

1. ^ a b Haskell and Penny 1981:246.
2. ^ a b Winkler, Martin M. (2021). "The Medici Lions: Culture and Cinema from Rome to Alupka and Beyond". ClassicoContemporaneo. 7. ISSN 2421-4744. Retrieved 1 January 2025.
3. ^ louvre.fr (in French)
4. ^ a b c "Lions of Firenze". clevermag.com. Clever Magazine.
5. ^ Vacca 1790
6. ^ Haskell and Penny 1981:247–50.
7. ^ "FANCELLI, Giovanni, detto Nanni di Stocco in "Dizionario Biografico"". treccani.it.
8. ^ Haskell and Penny 1981:247.
9. ^ a b "The Medici Lion". tomassobrothers.co.uk.
10. ^ a b Giovanna Giusti Galardi: The Statues of the Loggia Della Signoria in Florence: Masterpieces Restored, Florence 2002. ISBN 8809026209
11. ^ a b borghiditoscana.net Archived 23 February 2011 at the Wayback Machine
12. ^ a b Draper, James David; Pajou, Augustin; Scherf, Guilhem; Louvre, Musée du; N.Y.), Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York (16 March 1998). Augustin Pajou: royal sculptor, 1730-1809. Metropolitan Museum of Art. ISBN 9780810965188 – via Google Books.
13. ^ a b "Rome Off The Beaten Path Tips by von.otter". virtualtourist.com.
14. ^ "Answers - The Most Trusted Place for Answering Life's Questions". answers.com.
15. ^ a b "León | Patrimonio Nacional". www.patrimonionacional.es. Archived from the original on 17 November 2016. Retrieved 16 November 2016.
16. ^ "León - Colección - Museo Nacional del Prado". museodelprado.es.
17. ^ "JARDÍN DE MONFORTE (L´HORT DE ROMERO)". visitvalencia.com.
18. ^ TURESPAÑA (23 April 2007). "Monforte Gardens in Valencia, Spain: Historic gardens in Valencia, Spain - spain.info in English". spain.info.
19. ^ "Lejonet & Svinet". Archived from the original on 24 November 2013. Retrieved 10 February 2013.
20. ^ "Konstverk i Nacka Strand". www.jarlaberg.se. Retrieved 16 November 2016.
21. ^ "Mueller". infobank.nacka.se. Retrieved 16 November 2016.
22. ^ "Stowe House, Buckinghamshire | Projects | WMF Britain". www.wmf.org.uk. Archived from the original on 12 October 2016. Retrieved 16 November 2016.
23. ^ "Medici Lions return to Stowe :: Historic Houses Association". www.hha.org.uk. Archived from the original on 29 November 2014. Retrieved 16 November 2016.
24. ^ "Geograph:: Medicean Lion Statue (C) Trevor Rickard". geograph.org.uk.
25. ^ Historic England. "Details from listed building database (1109087)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 30 September 2015.
26. ^ Mawrey, Gillian; Groves, Linden (24 August 2010). The Gardens of English Heritage. Frances Lincoln. p. 102. ISBN 9780711227712 – via Internet Archive.
27. ^ "The Stowe Lions". World Monuments Fund – Britain. Archived from the original on 27 August 2014. Retrieved 20 November 2014.
28. ^ "Saint Petersburg encyclopaedia". www.encspb.ru. Retrieved 16 November 2016.
29. ^ "Шествие львов". Archived from the original on 16 February 2010. Retrieved 3 March 2011.
30. ^ "Ошибка на странице". encspb.ru.
31. ^ "Category:West Spit of Yelagin Island (Pier with lions) - Wikimedia Commons".
32. ^ Zharikov, N. L. (1983–1986). "Vorontsovsky dvorets, 1830–1846". Monuments of urban development and architecture in the UkSSR (in Russian). Vol. 1–4\. Kyiv: Budivel'nyk. p. 301\. LCCN 84179019.
33. ^ Commons:File:Starosinnyi Garden.JPG
34. ^ "Category:Medici lion at the National University of Life and Environmental Sciences of Ukraine Botanical Garden - Wikimedia Commons".
35. ^ File:Schloss Monrepos Detail3.jpg
36. ^ "Florentine Lions - Philadelphia, PA - Lion Statues on Waymarking.com". waymarking.com.
37. ^ "Medici Lion, 3D Model". 30 November 2021.
38. ^ "About the Bowdoin College Museum of Art". 30 November 2021.
39. ^ "History of McMicken College, University of Cincinnati". 17 July 2013. Archived from the original on 17 July 2013. Retrieved 16 November 2016.
40. ^ "Lions Restored To St. Augustine Bridge - Jacksonville News Story - WJXT Jacksonville". 14 July 2011. Archived from the original on 14 July 2011. Retrieved 16 November 2016.`{{cite web}}`: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
41. ^ "Lion's Den Museum of Outdoors Arts". 26 September 2008. Archived from the original on 26 September 2008. Retrieved 16 November 2016.`{{cite web}}`: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
42. ^ "Vytauto Didžiojo karo muziejaus sargai sugrįžo". 15min.lt. Retrieved 16 November 2016.
43. ^ At least three visible in File:Parc Saint-Cloud2.jpg.
44. ^ commons:Category:Medici lions at the Château de Saint-Cloud, larva-e.de Archived 5 September 2012 at archive.today
45. ^ commons:Category:Statues of lions in Pétervására
46. ^ "Patrimonio Históríco-Artístico. Documental y Bibliográfico". congreso.es.
47. ^ STT. "Parolan leijona trimmataan kuntoon". savonsanomat.fi. Archived from the original on 14 July 2014. Retrieved 15 November 2012.
48. ^ Lynda Lewis & Jim Webster (26 December 2021). "The Man Who Carved a Lion. The story of Henry John Wilkinson 1829 – 1911". BajanThings. Retrieved 28 December 2021.
49. ^ Dr. Edward Cecil Harris, MBE, PHD, FSA, Director Emeritus, National Museum of Bermuda (September 2017). The Sphinx of Inverurie (PDF). National Museum of Bermuda Press. pp. 19–21\. ISBN 978-0-947481-03-2. Retrieved 28 December 2021.`{{cite book}}`: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)

### Additional sources

[edit]

* Vacca, Flaminio (1594). Memorie di varie antichità trovate in diversi luoghi della città di Roma., noted by Haskell, Francis; Penny, Nicholas (1981). Taste and the Antique: the lure of classical sculpture, 1500–1900. Yale University Press. ISBN 0300026412.
* Hochmann, Michel (1999). Villa Medici, il sogno di un Cardinale – Collezioni e artisti di Ferdinando de' Medici. De Luca. pp. 208–211\. ISBN 8880163248.
* Manescalchi, Roberto; Carchio, Maria; del Meglio, Alessandro (2005). Il Marzocco / The Lion of Florence. English summary by Gianna Crescioli. Grafica European Center of Fine Arts. ISBN 978-88-95450-23-0.

## External links

[edit]

* Media related to Medici lions at Wikimedia Commons
* 3D model of a Medici lion

* v
* t
* e

House of Medici

People|

| Lords of Florence|

* Cosimo "The Elder"
* Piero "The Gouty"
* Lorenzo "The Magnificent"
* Piero "The Brief"
* Giovanni, Pope Leo X
* Giuliano
* Lorenzo II
* Giulio (Clement VII)
* Ippolito
* Alessandro "The Moor"

|

Dukes of Florence|

* Alessandro "The Moor"
* Cosimo I

Grand Dukes of Tuscany|

* Cosimo I
* Francesco I
* Ferdinando I
* Cosimo II
* Ferdinando II
* Cosimo III
* Gian Gastone

Queens of France|

* Caterina
* Maria

Popes|

* Leo X
* Clement VII
* Leo XI

Cardinals|

* male line: Giovanni (Leo X)
* Giulio (Clement VII)
* Ippolito
* Alessandro (Leo XI)
* Giovanni
* Ferdinando I
* Carlo
* Giovan Carlo
* Leopoldo
* Francesco Maria
* Francesco
female line: Luigi de' Rossi
* Giovanni Salviati
* Innocenzo Cybo
* Bernardo Salviati
* Niccolò Ridolfi
* Lorenzo Strozzi
* Ferrante Gonzaga
* Vincenzo II Gonzaga

Bishops and archbishops|

* Filippo
* Bernardo Antonio
* Giuliano
* Zanobi

Condottieri|

* Giovanni delle Bande Nere
* Don Giovanni
* Mattias

Genealogy|

* Genealogical tables of the House of Medici

Festina Lente

Buildings|

| Villas|

* Cafaggiolo
* Trebbio
* Careggi
* Fiesole
* La Quiete
* Collesalvetti
* Poggio a Caiano
* Castello
* Mezzomonte
* Agnano
* Spedaletto
* La Petraia
* Camugliano
* Stabbia
* La Topaia
* Cerreto Guidi
* Marignolle
* Arena Metato
* Poggio Imperiale
* Lapeggi
* L'Ambrogiana
* La Màgia
* Liliano
* Coltano
* Montevettolini
* Artimino
* Buti
* Seravezza
* Madama

|

Palaces|

* Casino Mediceo di San Marco
* Palazzo Medici Riccardi
* Palazzo Madama
* Palazzo Pitti
* Villa Medici
* Palazzo Medici Tornaquinci
* Livorno
* Palazzo delle Vedove
* Pisa
* Materdei
* Palazzo Medici di Ottaviano

Fountains and gardens|

* Medici fountain
* Villa di Pratolino

Fortresses|

* Arezzo
* Grosseto
* Piombino
* Pistoia
* San Piero a Sieve
* Siena
* Volterra

Chapels|

* Magi Chapel
* Medici Chapels, San Lorenzo
* New Sacristy
* Cappella dei Principi
* Old Sacristy

Patronage|

| Painters, sculptors and architects|

* Bartolomeo Ammannati
* Sandro Botticelli
* Filippo Brunelleschi
* Michelangelo
* Michelangelo and the Medici
* Bernardo Buontalenti
* Leonardo da Vinci
* Donatello
* Michelozzo
* Antonio del Pollaiuolo
* Jacopo della Quercia
* Giorgio Vasari

|

Poets and other literary figures|

* Agnolo Poliziano
* Niccolò Machiavelli

Humanists and philosophers|

* Pico della Mirandola
* Marsilio Ficino

Scientists|

* Galileo Galilei

Musicians|

* Emilio de' Cavalieri
* Jacopo Peri

Heraldry|

* Medici coat of arms
* Crown of the Grand Duke of Tuscany
* Order of Saint Stephen

Institutions|

* Medici Bank

Art|

* Medici lions
* Medici porcelain
* Medici Vase
* Venus de' Medici
* Arazzeria Medicea

Family tree|

* Princes of Ottajano

Related|

* Medici giraffe
* Galilean moons
* Stories set to music: "opera"
* Alberti
* Albizzi
* Pazzi conspiracy
* Savonarola
* TV series
* episodes

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