Artwork
Lion
Lion is an oil painting by the Rococo painting artist Giuseppe Baldrighi. It dates from 1754 and is held in the collection of the Cleveland Museum of Art.
About this work
Subject & Meaning
The work, created in France in 1754, is housed in the Cleveland Museum of Art, where it forms part of the museum’s collection of European paintings.
The painting depicts a lion, a symbol of strength and vigilance that was frequently employed in 18th‑century decorative schemes to convey authority and guardianship. Baldrighi’s rendering emphasizes the animal’s muscular form and alert gaze, underscoring themes of power and protection associated with the creature in contemporary iconography. The work, created in France in 1754, is housed in the Cleveland Museum of Art, where it forms part of the museum’s collection of European paintings.
Technique & Style
Lion is executed in oil paint on canvas, a standard support for mid-eighteenth-century European easel painting. According to the work's cataloguing, the canvas measures 79.5 cm in height by 64.0 cm in width, giving it a modest vertical format suited to a single-animal study. The medium and dimensions are consistent with the painting's classification as a work by Giuseppe Baldrighi dated 1754, held by the Cleveland Museum of Art. No further details regarding handling, condition, or stylistic qualities are documented in the available sources.
History & Provenance
The painting is held by the Cleveland Museum of Art, where it is catalogued under accession number 1980.274. It entered the museum's collection as part of its holdings of works by Giuseppe Baldrighi.
No exhibition history is documented in the available sources.
Overview
Giuseppe Baldrighi’s 1754 oil painting titled Lion presents a close‑up view of a lion’s head. The animal is shown with its mouth open, exposing its teeth, against a subdued brown backdrop. The work is part of the Cleveland Museum of Art’s collection and exemplifies the decorative yet naturalistic approach typical of mid‑18th‑century European painting.
Context
Baldrighi worked in an era when Italian painters were negotiating the ornate excesses of Rococo with the disciplined clarity of Neoclassicism. Lion reflects this dialogue, combining decorative surface treatment with a realistic portrayal of animal anatomy, a practice common among artists seeking to balance elegance with scholarly observation in the mid‑1700s.
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Artist & collection
Artist
Giuseppe Baldrighi (12 August 1722 – 22 January 1803) was an Italian painter of the late Baroque (Rococo) and early Neoclassic periods.
