Roman bas-relief with the lion of saint Mark - Meuse Valley, 12th century

This fragment sculpted in limestone extracts from the quarries around Verdun and Commercy, in the east of France, is a rare and striking example of Romanesque sculpture from the 12th century in the Meuse Valley. Formerly an integral part of an ornate lintel or an architectural frieze, our work reveals a lush decor of free foliage wrapping a lion in a central medallion. Decked out with a pair of wings that give a taste of the passion of Romanesque art for detail and anecdote. This lion represents the evangelist Mark. Thus, according to the iconographic tradition of the tetramorph, our fragment must once have been inserted into a larger setting where it was joined by John's eagle, Luke's bull and Mathieu's man. From a typological but also stylistic point of view, this work should be compared to two stone medallions decorated with the bull of Luke and the lion of Saint Mark from the former abbey of Saint-Vanne de Verdun, dating from the 12th century, and now kept in Verdun at the Musée de la Princerie (85.4.218; 85.4.219).