BOXWOOD REPRESENTATION OF THE LION OF LUCERNE, mid-19th century. 10410

BOXWOOD REPRESENTATION OF THE LION OF LUCERNE, mid-19th century. 10410

Carved boxwood representation of a slain lion resting on a shield with the inscription "HELVETIORUM FIDEI AC VIRTUTI."
H 6.7 cm, L 15 cm, W 4.8 cm.

France.
Mid-19th century.
Good condition, beautiful patina.

HISTORICAL BACKGROUND:
Lion of Lucerne
The Lion of Lucerne (German: Löwendenkmal) is a sculpture located in Lucerne, Switzerland. Designed by Bertel Thorvaldsen and sculpted between 1820 and 1821 by Lukas Ahorn, it commemorates the officers and hundreds of soldiers of the Swiss Guards regiment who died in 1792 in the service of the French king, Louis XVI, when revolutionaries stormed the Tuileries Palace in Paris.

Since the early 17th century, a regiment of Swiss Guards composed of mercenaries served in France as part of the Royal Household. On October 6, 1789, King Louis XVI was forced to move with his family from the Palace of Versailles to the Tuileries Palace in Paris. In June 1791, he attempted to escape to Montmédy.

During the events of August 10, 1792, revolutionaries attacked the palace defended by the entire Swiss Guards, except for a detachment of 300 men sent to Normandy a few days earlier. Fierce fighting broke out after the royal family was evacuated from the Tuileries to be placed under the protection of the Legislative Assembly. The guards, running out of ammunition, were overwhelmed by superior numbers of opponents. A note written by the King, which was found, ordered them to withdraw and return to their barracks. By ordering the Swiss to lay down their arms in the middle of the battle, Louis XVI sacrificed them.

Among the 800 to 900 guards present at the palace, 300 were killed on the spot, during the fighting or after their surrender. It is estimated that another 200 died in prison from their wounds or were killed during the September massacres. On the revolutionary side, there were 300 casualties after the fighting.

Some officers were among the dead at the Tuileries, although Major Karl Josef von Bachmann - the commander of the Guard on August 10 - was formally tried and guillotined in September while still wearing his red uniform coat. Two surviving Swiss officers reached higher ranks under Napoleon.

Out of the surviving guards, 350 joined the Republican armies, with many joining the Vendeans; 389 were awarded an official commemorative medal titled "Treue und Ehre" (Fidelity and Honor) by the Diet in 1817.

Memorial
The initiative to create a monument was taken by Karl Pfyffer von Altishofen, a Guards officer who was on leave in Lucerne at the time of the events. He began raising money in 1818. The following year, he published a historical reconstruction of the events.

The project was designed by the Danish sculptor Bertel Thorvaldsen and carved in 1820-1821 by Lukas Ahorn, into the cliff of a former sandstone quarry near Lucerne. It measures ten meters long and six meters high.

The monument bears a Latin dedication, "Helvetiorum Fidei ac Virtuti" ("To the loyalty and bravery of the Swiss"). The dying lion is depicted impaled by a lance, covering a shield bearing the fleur de lys of the French monarchy; another shield beside it displays the coat of arms of Switzerland. An inscription below the sculpture lists the names of the officers and an approximate count of the dead soldiers (DCCLX or 760) and survivors (CCCL or 350).

In 1880, writer Mark Twain described the sculpture, depicting a mortally wounded lion, as "the most mournful and moving piece of stone in the world." The pose of the lion was copied in 1894 by Thomas M. Brady for his Lion of the Confederation located in Oakland Cemetery in Atlanta, United States.

Moreover, a French military song named "Les Adieux Suisses" recalls these events. In the 1940s, the monument became a gathering point for extreme right-wing movements, and between 1989 and 1992, opponents of joining the European Economic Area saw it as an artwork glorifying a conservative and counter-revolutionary Switzerland, according to historian Alain-Jacques Tornare.