maybe it’s “Knock, knock…” either way, I clearly have a thing for lions since my husband started Altamura Distilleries and used the lions of Altamura as a logo. Now, I am just enamored with all the decorating ideas, inspiration, and historical information I am finding.
While researching the history of door knockers I came across a dark and interesting story of the door knocker that traces its lineage (from what I can find) all the way back to ancient Greece. Greeks were a bit prickly about unannounced visits to their dwellings, and it was considered a breach of etiquette to enter someone else’s home without warning. ( Honestly… same. lol )
‘Sophisticated’ (aka: wealthy) Athenians preferred the use of door knockers in the form of slaves chained to the door whose sole purpose was to answer it. If the slave was asleep there is said to have been a short bar attached to the chains to wake the slave. This is before ‘advancements’ in technology came around in the form of our doorknockers today.
The story of the door knockers beginning is interesting but I fell in love with the Lion knocker specifically. Traditionally the lion knocker has been regarded as the king of beasts, the lion’s head symbolizes strength, pride, protection, and power. Venetians used the symbol of the lion as a symbol of strength and pride dating back to them stealing the body of St. Mark from a church in Alexandria, Egypt. Once the body of St. mark made it to Venice it was immediately pronounced Venice’s new patron saint, replacing St. Theodore.
St. Theodore was a revered Greek saint in Eastern Catholic Church, signifying Venice’s subordination and its deep connection to Constantinople. By replacing their patron saint with one of the top Christian saints revered by the Western Church, Venetians further highlighted their independence from Byzantium
For anyone (like me) that did not understand the connection between St. mark and the winged lion – according to ancient legend, while taking refuge from a storm in the city of Venice, Mark was visited in a dream by an angel in the form of a winged lion.
I will assume he was high… lol.
That does not change that I have wanted a lion door knocker for some time. When I first saw my palazzotto in Ostuni, Puglia, Italy that I purchased, one of the first things I noticed about the home as we approached the front door, was the lion door knocker. The property dates back to the early 1800’s and this knocker is very old. There are numerous layers of paint on the door, and the lion knocker, making it almost unusable. My hope is to strip the paint off the antique knocker and restore it as a piece of art in the home. I will post this once I am complete.
I was going back and forth between searching for an antique lion door knocker that was usable or buying new. Though I did not want one from china. I wanted something special… and what could be more special than a knocker cast in Venice by a local artist! Even if St. Mark was high as a kite, the symbol of Venice’s strength and pride remains the lion! On my previous trip to Venice, I went exploring… I found an artist in Venice that cast’s his art in a traditional method using Fontainebleau sand imported, from France.
Fonderia Artistica Valese is located near piazza San Marco. This is how they create their art:
The company is one of the last remaining to perform gusset forming. Inside a frame made of wood or iron, called a stirrup or book (because it opens in two halves), the sand is pressed which receives the imprint of the original models to be produced, and fixes it in two parts, above and below, matching like each side of a shell. After opening the bracket and extracting the models, a feeding channels is prepared in which the molten metal can flow into the sand. The metal, brass or bronze, is brought to a liquid state in an oven between 950-1000 degrees prior to pouring.
The liquid metal is then picked up with pouring clamps and poured into the feed channels. When the metal returns to normal temperature, a solid state, the molds are broken and the castings are extracted. The castings are then separated from the feed channels with a saw and sent to finishing. It is through this process that our pieces are born every day.
If you are looking for a piece of art for your home or a unique door knocker, I would highly recommended stopping by their store the next time you are in Venice, Italy. Their website is a bit defective for such amazing work but you can contact Fonderia Artistica Valese via their site for worldwide shipping.