Italian, Central or Southern Italy
Stylobate Lion, about 1200
Carrara marble , 63 x 119.5 x 35.5 cm (24 13/16 x 47 1/16 x 14 in.)
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A stylobate, meaning placed on the top step, lion that guards the right side of the north steps entering the courtyard. Carved in gray Carrara marble, the massive-looking lion stands on top of a man imprisoned beneath the beast’s claws. The head and the neck of the lion are cylindrical and disproportionately large for his overall body, especially the squat legs, trapping the lion’s victim between his belly and the ground. The lion’s mouth is open in a snarl. His flame-like, flat mane created with a drill covers much of the back of his head and neck, while the rest of his body is relatively smooth. The legs are not only short, but his paws unusually long as they flatten out to help pin down the victim. Below the lion’s head the head and shoulders of the man, lying on his left side, emerges from under the lion, the man’s right shoulder in contact with the lion’s neck, his two legs bent and drawn up to rest beneath the beast’s belly and his hands struggling in front of his legs. Below his curly hair, the man’s mouth and eyes are wide open and appear terrified. The handle of a knife, which apparently has been thrust into the lower belly of the lion, can be seen between the man’s retracted legs and the lion’s right hind foot. The lion’s paws and the man’s body are in contact with a narrow, flat slab of marble that forms the base of the sculpture. The lion supports a light brown marble column and ornate capital with carved figures on top of his back.
East, North, and West Cloister
Commentary
This column with its lion base is typical of church portals or entrances throughout Italy in the late Romanesque period. However, they were rarely used elsewhere in Europe except under Italian influence. The weathering of the marble indicates that it was originally placed on an outside door. The deep drill marks on the mane and face suggest that it was made in southern or central Italy where Roman carving techniques were revived and imitated with great precision. The drill work enhances the impression of the lion’s ferocity as does the agonized position of the man pinned beneath its paws. The prostrate captive in turn stabs the lion. The portal lions of San Giovanni Fuorcivatas in the town of Pistoia have a similar subject.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.Source: Deborah Kahn, "Stylobate Lion" in Eye of the Beholder, edited by Alan Chong, et al. (Boston: ISGM and Beacon Press, 2003): 25.