The Lion and the Wisdom—The Multiple Meanings of the Lion as One of the Keys for Deciphering Vittore Carpaccio’s Meditation on the Passion

Abstract

The current paper will concentrate on the lion featured in Vittore Carpaccio’s Meditation on the Passion. The multiple meanings of the lion in primary sources will serve as a key towards demonstrating the concept of prophecy, one of the multi-level meanings referring to all three figures featured in the painting—Job, Christ and St. Jerome. To this, an interpretation not discussed hitherto with reference to the Meditation will be added—the lion as alluding to the concept of wisdom as referred to in the book of Job. Furthermore, the lion and the wisdom will be discussed as an allusion to the self-image of Venice during the period in which the painting was executed, and thus add another, social and civic, reading.

The emperor, the lion and the peacock: Monuments and contested state sovereignty in contemporary Ethiopia

“…Two lions guarding the Throne House serve as symbols of state power and authority (see Figure 4). In the Christian tradition, the lion is a symbol for Christ guarding his people day and night through his divine omnipresence (Moscovich, 2019). Lion symbolism has a long history in Ethiopia’s political culture too (Clapham, 1969), with the lion’s divine and physical body representing imperial power and authority as well as the country’s heroic resistance during colonialism (Tola, 2017: 38).…”