Two seated lions 1521

Albrecht Durer sketched these two seated lions in pen, sometime in the late fifteenth or early sixteenth century. The lion, as the ‘king of beasts,’ was a widely recognized symbol of power, dominion, and courage in Durer’s time. In the Holy Roman Empire, where Durer lived, the lion was a common heraldic symbol among the aristocracy, and was often associated with royalty and military strength. As a social historian, I might ask, how does Durer’s representation of the lion speak to the existing social order? Although he lived in a hierarchical society, Durer was not an aristocrat himself; he came from a family of goldsmiths. His detailed and strikingly lifelike depiction of the lions might be seen as an assertion of the artist's own power of observation, his ability to capture and even master the symbols of authority through his art. To further understand the meaning of this artwork, one might investigate how lions were viewed and used as symbols in the art and heraldry of the Holy Roman Empire.