The Lion of Lucerne, 1820-1821, was designed by Bertel Thorvaldsen. Thorvaldsen’s fame was such that he was often asked to produce commissions for works that seem far removed from his cold Classicism. A example of this is the monument of the Swiss Guards, commissioned by the city of Lucerne at the instigation of a former officer of the Swiss Guards.
The figure of the lion is created on the wall of an earlier limestone mine, and commemorates allegorically the destruction of the Swiss Guard at the storm of the Tuileries in Paris 1792, depicted in The Dying Lion. The Latin inscription commemorates the military persons, officers and soldiers, who fell in the battle.
Thorvaldsen produced a design for the lion, which was then carved into the rock by a local sculptor, Lukas Ahorn. The monument, which measures 10 meters (32.8 ft.) in length and 6 meters (19.7 ft.) in height, was completed in 1821.
Wear away though it may, this monument will nonetheless stand tall above all others.
This is a pronouncement that Thorvaldsen is himself supposed to have made about his Dying Lion.
The lion symbolizes bravery, power, and strength. The Swiss Guards are lauded for their loyalty and bravery in a Latin inscription — Helvetiorum fidei ac virtuti/To the loyalty and bravery of the Swiss. Also written are the names of Pfyffer (Project Initiator), Thorvaldsen (Sculptor), and Ahorn (Stonemason). The lion is portrayed impaled by a spear, covering a shield bearing the fleur-de-lis of the French monarchy; beside him is another shield bearing the coat of arms of Switzerland. The inscription below the sculpture says:
Here are the names of those who fell fighting most valiantly so as not to deceive the faith of the sacrament.
The inscription lists the names of the officers and gives the approximate numbers of soldiers who died (DCCLX = 760), and survived (CCCL = 350).
The idea came from Karl Pfyffer von Altishofen, a politician and supporter of the arts. Besides the Lucerne Art Society (Luzerner Kunstgesellschaft), he was once the president of the Swiss Art Association. As a Swiss Guard, Karl Pfyffer von Altishofen survived the French Revolution unscathed with pure luck. He was on his way back home to France when the deadly riot occurred on August 10th, 1792. Due to his loneliness and sense of loss for his fellow Swiss Guards, he came up with the idea of creating a monument. He wrote a book detailing the regiment of Swiss Guards during the French Revolution. This book created a strong reaction throughout conservative circles in Switzerland, which motivated him to organize a public subscription to finance the commemorative monument.
Thorvaldsen accepted the project with the idea that it would be built of iron instead of bronze. It was Heinrich Keller from Zurich who suggested building it directly on the wall, rather than using bronze or iron.
Mark Twain described the Lion as “the most mournful and moving piece of stone in the world”. In his travelogue, A Tramp Abroad (1880), he writes:
The Lion lies in his lair in the perpendicular face of a low cliff—for he is carved from the living rock of the cliff. His size is colossal, his attitude is noble. His head is bowed, the broken spear is sticking in his shoulder, his protecting paw rests upon the lilies of France. Vines hang down the cliff and wave in the wind, and a clear stream trickles from above and empties into a pond at the base, and in the smooth surface of the pond the lion is mirrored, among the water-lilies. Around about are green trees and grass. The place is a sheltered, reposeful woodland nook, remote from noise and stir and confusion—and all this is fitting, for lions do die in such places, and not on granite pedestals in public squares fenced with fancy iron railings. The Lion of Lucerne would be impressive anywhere, but nowhere so impressive as where he is.
