Artist: Giovanni Antoniazzi
Year: C. 1980
Dates: b.1935, Florence, Italy
Materials: Carrara Marble
Dimensions: 2′ x 4′ x 18′

About Leoni Sdraiato

These resting lions are replicas of Antonio Canova’s (1757-1822) sculpture that was part of the funerary monument for Pope Clemente XIII’s tomb placed in St. Peter’s Basilica, Vatican in 1792. Pious principles and virtuosity act to mediate death, and the lions perched at the base act to protect the tomb of the mortal. Each independent figure creates a pyramidal form, and enhances the symbolic space: “from the lions at its base, custodians of the entrance to the sepulcher, to the idealized nude Genius of Death derived from Classical models, and the theological Virtues carved on the sarcophagus beside it, then to the colossal statue of Religion. The monument culminates in the figure of the pope kneeling in prayer with lowered eyes, his tiara beside him on the ground. His face is an excellent portrait in the Venetian realist tradition.”

Giuseppe Pavanello, “Canova: Sculpture.” Grove Art Online. Oxford University Press, 2007, http://www.groveart.com/