Description
Copperplate etching representing the winged lion of saint Mark (the Lion of Saint Mark, representing the evangelist St Mark, is the symbol of the city of Venice and formerly of the Republic of Venice).
This is the sculpture you can see on the top of the column in Piazzetta San Marco, close to Saint Mark’s Square (the Piazzetta di San Marco is (strictly speaking) not part of the Piazza but an adjoining open space connecting the south side of the Piazza to the waterway of the lagoon). The Piazzetta is marked by two large granite columns carrying symbols of the two patron saints of Venice (Saint Theodore and Saint Mark, represented by the winged lion).
This lion has a long history, probably starting as a winged lion-griffin on a monument to the god Sandon at Tarsus in Cilicia (Southern Turkey) about 300 BC. The columns are now thought to have been erected about 1268, when the water was closer and they would have been on the edge of the lagoon, framing the entry to the city from the sea.
Etching on copper matrix.
The techniques used are:
– Aquaforte etching, to get the lines of the drawing
– Aquatint, to get the nuances and give a sense of depth.
Printed with chalcographic ink on rosaspina paper.
Paper size: inches 9.8 x 6.9
Image size: inches 3.9 x 2.7
Sold unframed
