"To the Loyalty and Bravery of the Swiss - 1792" (12"X16", Oil on Canvas, $450)
This small carved-wood object is something that always hung in my grandmother's bedroom. She got it on a trip to Switzerland when she was a teenage girl. It's a tiny version of a very large sculpture in Lucerne, which is carved into the granite wall above a large pool of water.
The original is quite old and goes back to the French Revolution. It's a tribute to the Swiss Guard who were sent to France when the Revolution was brewing. Their duty was to protect Marie Antoinette. They fought bravely and loyally when the peasants finally got through to the queen, but in the end they were all killed and Marie Antoinette went to the gilloutine. (If you google the Latin phrase which makes the title of this piece, you can see the actual sculpture.)
I was always fascinated by this little carving and was happy to get it when my grandmother passed. I was also glad to have met two Swiss women who came to my display at an arts show in Boston last year. They recognized the sculpture in the painting and were interested to ask what I knew about it. I told them the history and was surprised to find out that they didn't know the Swiss lion's history! Apparently these carvings were quite popular in my grandmother's time - every house in Switzerland had one on the wall - but I guess the later generations lost track of the significance. I can't say that I know all of American History, either.
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