late eighteenth century french school Study of the Medici Lion Sanguine on paper pasted on its mount Height 33 cm - Width 47.6 cm When Ferdinand I de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany, acquired a villa in the hills above Rome in 1579, he commissioned two marble sculptures of lions to adorn the staircase beside the gardens. The first lion dates back to Roman times, around the 2nd century BC, and was reworked by the sculptor Giovanni di Scherano Fancelli. The second is contemporary with its installation, created for the occasion as a counterpart by Flaminio Vacca. When the Villa Medici passed into the hands of the House of Lorraine in 1737, the lions were moved to Florence, and since 1789 have been enthroned in the Loggia dei Lanzi near the Piazza della Signoria. Copies were returned to the Villa Medici by Napoleon in 1803, when he established the French Academy in Rome.