Portrait of Baccio Bandinelli with Lion (1548): Art, History and Details

Portrait of Baccio Bandinelli with Lion (1548) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection. The museum's creator attribution is Nicolo della Casa (French, active 1543–48); Baccio Bandinelli (Italian, 1493–1560).

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

Florentine sculptor Baccio Bandinelli was a self-proclaimed rival of Michelangelo. This print, made from Bandinelli’s design, is a masterpiece of self-promotion that also encapsulates the Renaissance artist’s inspiration from antiquity and rising social status. Bandinelli portrayed himself sitting like a king surrounded by both ancient sculpture and his own works. The lion that bites into a block of marble symbolizes Bandinelli’s formidable power over the stone and perhaps the triumph of his skills over all others (including Michelangelo). His fur-lined cloak is that of a gentleman, and the cross on his chest indicates his knighthood in the Order of Saint James, a Catholic chivalric brotherhood.

Object facts

• Title: Portrait of Baccio Bandinelli with Lion
• Date: 1548
• Creator attribution: Nicolo della Casa (French, active 1543–48); Baccio Bandinelli (Italian, 1493–1560)
• Culture: France
• Type: Print
• Technique: engraving
• Dimensions: Platemark: 41.5 x 30.9 cm (16 5/16 x 12 3/16 in.); Sheet: 41.7 x 31.1 cm (16 7/16 x 12 1/4 in.)
• Collection: PR - Engraving
• Department: Prints
• Accession number: 1965.308

Collection credit

Gift of The Print Club of Cleveland

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.