The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of March 25, 2024

Engaged Capital with a Lion and a Basilisk

Engaged Capital with a Lion and a Basilisk

1175–1200
Overall: 30.2 x 33 x 29.3 cm (11 7/8 x 13 x 11 9/16 in.)

Did You Know?

This capital depicts a struggle between the good lion and the evil basilisk, a legendary reptile from myth. While the artist would not have encountered the mythical serpent, it is likely he never saw a real lion either based on its cartoonish appearance in this sculpture.

Description

The basilisk is an imaginary animal, half cock and half snake. According to medieval bestiaries, the basilisk could kill merely by its glance. It was commonly held as the symbol of the devil to be trodden down by Christ, first at the moment of his incarnation and then again during the Last Judgment.
  • Juliana Armour Ferguson, Huntington, Long Island, New York
    -1972
    (Edward R. Lubin, New York, NY, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art)
    1972-
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1978. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1978. Reproduced: p. 57 archive.org
    Wixom, William D. “Eleven Additions to the Medieval Collection.” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 66, no. 3 (Mar/April 1979): 87–151. Mentioned and reproduced: p. 89-90, fig. 6-7 www.jstor.org
    Cahn, Walter, and Linda Seidel. Romanesque Sculpture in American Collections. Turnhout, Belgium: Brepols, 1999. Vol. II, no. B III 13, 161-63
    Gertsman, Elina and Barbara H. Rosenwein. The Middle Ages in 50 Objects. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2018. Mentioned: p. 76-79; Reproduced: p. 77
  • Images of the Mind. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (July 7-August 30, 1987).
    Traditions and Revisions: Themes from the History of Sculpture. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (September 24-November 16, 1975).
    Year in Review: 1972. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (February 27-March 18, 1973).
  • {{cite web|title=Engaged Capital with a Lion and a Basilisk|url=false|author=|year=1175–1200|access-date=25 March 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1972.20