Restored in 2024 with funding from Jerrold and Ann Mitchell

This remarkable 16th-century gilded sculpture depicts the winged Lion of Saint Mark in its andante, or ‘walking,’ form. This iconic motif shows the lion standing on three paws, with the fourth raised to hold a book inscribed with the words, “Peace be with you, Mark, my Evangelist.” These words evoke one of Venice’s key foundational myths—the Praedestinatio Sancti Marci which tells how Mark was foretold on the island of Rialto that he would return to Venice after his martyrdom in Egypt.

Today, the sculpture crowns the top shelves of the library in the Venice Patriarchal Seminary, where it was placed in the 1950s during the tenure of Patriarch Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli, who would later become Pope John XXIII. The sculpture originally came from the church of Madonna dell’Orto, where it adorned an organ likely built in the early 1520s by the renowned organist Giovanni Battista Facchetti from Brescia. The organ was originally situated above the door to the sacristy on the right aisle of the church, next to a now-lost suspended choir loft that once spanned the fifth bay. Although the organ was destroyed in 1865, the Lion of Saint Mark was removed in 1797. At that time, French authorities ordered the removal and destruction of all winged lions of Saint Mark across Venice and its territories. This sculpture is therefore one of the few to have survived the Jacobin efforts to erase what they perceived as emblems of the ancient patrician authority.

Close examination during the preliminary conservation assessment revealed exciting new insights into the sculpture’s history. On the back of the Lion, conservators discovered a relief inscription that reads “1548,” offering, for the first time, a precise date for when the sculpture was carved. This remarkable finding has opened unexpected avenues for research, suggesting potential connections to the work of one of the most celebrated artists of the time—Jacopo Tintoretto.

Tintoretto painted numerous canvases for the Madonna dell’Orto, including those that once adorned the organ. The outer shutters of the instrument depicted the Presentation of the Virgin in the Temple, while the inner shutters featured the Apparition of the Cross to Saint Peter (left) and the Beheading of Saint Paul (right). These paintings remain in the church today: the Presentation, with its two canvases now joined together, hangs in the spot where the organ once stood, while the other two paintings decorate the presbytery. Archival documents record the commissioning of the paintings from Tintoretto. On 6 November 1551, the painter received thirty ducats, along with a “barrel of wine, a portion of flour, and five scudi in gold” that had been paid to him earlier as a first installment. Notably, this initial agreement with Tintoretto was made in 1548, the same year that the Lion of Saint Mark sculpture was carved. This connection demonstrates that the Lion of Saint Mark was not created as a standalone piece but was instead conceived as part of a larger artistic project, intended from the outset to be viewed alongside Tintoretto’s paintings.

The wooden sculpture exhibited significant damage, including evidence of a past infestation by wood-boring insects, cracks, paint loss, and flaking. The entire body of the lion was coated with a thick layer of dirt and grime, along with deteriorated inpainting and varnish likely applied in the 1950s when the sculpture was moved to the library. During this previous treatment, clumsy dark lines were added, overly accentuating the feathering of the wings, the curly mane, and the lion’s facial features. Furthermore, the red paint outlining the lion’s eyes was so carelessly applied that it left streaks and drips, giving the appearance of improbable tears. Save Venice’s conservation treatment addressed all these issues, ensuring the structural stability of the sculpture and removing the non-original coatings to restore the artwork’s original appearance.

Unidentified sculptor
Lion of Saint Mark
1548, wood and gold leaf
150 x 210 cm

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