A sleeping lion
after Antonio Canova (Possagno 1757 - Venice 1822)
Category
Art / Sculpture
Date
c. 1800 - 1900
Materials
Stone
Measurements
508 x 1143 x 381 mm
Order this imageCollection
Ardress House, County Armagh
NT 247726
Summary
Sculpture, stone; a reclining lion; probably Italian, after Antonio Canova (1757-1822); c. 1800-1900. A stone reproduction of one of the two reclining lions that the neo-classical sculptor Antonio Canova made for the tomb of Pope Clement XIII in St Peter’s Rome, made between 1783-92. This copy is of the right-hand sleeping lion, whilst its companion is awake.
Full description
A stone reproduction of one of the reclining lions on the Monument of Pope Clement XIII by Antonio Canova (1757-1822). A male lion lies recumbent and asleep upon a base, its paws over the edge, its tail held beneath its left hind-paw. The monument to Pope Clement XIII (Carlo della Torre di Rezzonico, 1693-1769, reigned 1758-1769) was one of the major works undertaken by the great neo-classical sculptor Antonio Canova, after he had moved to Rome in 1781 (Pavanello 1976, no. 39). It was one of two major tomb monuments commemorating Popes that he made during this period, the other the monument to Clement XIII’s successor, Clement XIV (1705-1774, reigned 1769-74) in the Basilica dei Santi Apostoli, made between 1783 and 1787 (Pavanello 1976, no. 24). Also commissioned in 1783, the monument to Clement XIII was installed in St Peter’s in 1791 and formally inaugurated in 1792. One of its most celebrated features has always been the pair of recumbent lions, made not of marble but of travertine stone, acting as guardians at the front of the monument. The lion on the left is awake, whilst that on the right is sleeping. Canova’s lions were enormously popular and have remained so to this day, with copies of a range of sizes and media beginning to be made soon after the erection of the monument and still today. The stone copy at the Argory, which is of modest quality, may have been made in Italy, but could as easily have been made in Ireland or in Britain. Jeremy Warren December 2022
Makers and roles
after Antonio Canova (Possagno 1757 - Venice 1822), sculptor after Lukas Ahorn (1789 - 1856), sculptor after Bertel Thorvaldsen (Gronnegade 1770 – Copenhagen 1844), designer
References
Pavanello 1976: Giuseppe Pavanello, L’opera completa del Canova, Milan 1976