Design for a Lion's Head Relief 1820 - 1855

This drawing of a lion’s head relief was made anonymously on a small sheet of paper. The lion has been a symbol of strength and courage since antiquity. It's an image that recurs throughout history and across cultures. In Europe, the lion became a symbol of royal authority in the medieval period. Sculptural lion heads became a key feature of monumental architecture, adorning palaces, government buildings, and the residences of the wealthy. They signaled power and dominance. But by the time this sketch was made, the production of architectural sculpture was becoming increasingly institutionalized. While we can't know for sure who made this sketch, we can surmise that it might have been a craftsman working for a larger workshop, producing designs for stonemasons to execute. If we were to research the archives of building firms, we might be able to connect this image to a particular project. It’s by understanding these social and institutional contexts that we can come to a fuller understanding of what this image meant to the person who made it.