Wood Carving of the Lion of Lucerne- Massacre of the Swiss Guard in 1792 – SOLD

Description

Wood Carving of the Lion of Lucerne- Massacre of the Swiss Guard in 1792. Made of hard wood, and a fine rendition of the the monument created in stone in Lucerne, Switzerland.

The Lion of Lucerne is a massive sandstone monument showing an impaled lion by a spear, being 10 meters long and 6 meters wide and stands behind a pool of water. The two shields on the carving represent the Swiss guard, and the one the lion lies upon represent the country (France) it protected. A section of the spear protrudes from the back of the lion.

The writing on the carving done in Latin, reads, “to the loyalty and bravery of the Swiss,” with the date 1792. During the French Revolution, King Louis the XVI moved his family from the palace in Paris to Tuileries Palace, where eventually was attacked by armed insurgents on August 10, 1792, bring the fall of the French monarchy and the beginning of a great upheaval in the country (The Reign of Terror).  Most of the officers of the Swiss Guard were killed and due to recent historical research, not as many of the Swiss troops were killed as were initially honored. This controversy can be read about on the net, and worth the read.

The carving is 6 inches long. It shows fine workmanship, and patina, suggesting this was done a good time ago.  Many of these come from the early 19th Century, and I believe this is at least within that century buy the age, color, chisel marks, etc.

A nice piece of history from the French Revolution.