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Italian, Northern Italy - Stylobate Lion, late 12th century- early 13th century

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The stylobate lion to the left of the north courtyard entrance is carved in red Veronese marble. This lion is crouched low to the ground, holding a small animal in its front paws. The lion’s face is smooth with a prominent snout, opened mouth and beady, closely set eyes. An undulating, roughly textured mane outlines its head and covers its neck with a section of textured fur on its hind haunches; the remainder of its body is relatively smooth. In the center left side of the lion, our right, a partially kneeling atlante, meaning a male figure used as a pillar, helps to support the pillar that rests on the lion’s back. The man has an almost 90 degree bent head and upward raised arms and hands. This figure is disproportionately small and wears a close-fitting shirt and looser draped pants. Given that the back of his head helps support the rising pillar, his face is cast downward looking at the ground, his curly hair and facial features visible. Both the lion and the atlante are supported on the ground by a relatively flat, irregularly carved base of red marble.

Italian, Northern Italy

Stylobate Lion, late 12th century- early 13th century

Red Veronese marble , 60.3 x 102.9 x 34.9 cm (23 3/4 x 40 1/2 x 13 3/4 in.)

East, North, and West Cloister

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Commentary

The lion holds a rabbit or dog-like beast in its claws. The burden of the base of a column on its back is shared by a kneeling atlante on its right flank. The corresponding space on the other side is filled by a wedge-shaped block, roughly hewn along a vertical section where the work was separated from its point of anchor.

The combination of lion and atlante, a compressed version of the tiered arrangement of the same motifs found in the supports flanking the major entrances of the cathedrals of Trani and Ferrara, is seen again in Giovanni da Campione's north portal at S. Maria Maggiore in Bergamo. The characterization of the lion, periwigged in a loosely undulating mane, is echoed in the somewhat grosser animals in The Cloisters, New York (No. 53.64.1.2) as well as more distantly in a number of examples around Parma and Verona.

The nose, mane, forelegs, and rear of the lion are considerably worn. The nose of the figure is lost and areas along the column base are chipped.