Golden Brass Lion on Red Door

This work has been FEATURED in:... more

by Brooke T Ryan

Title

Golden Brass Lion on Red Door

Artist

Brooke T Ryan

Medium

Photograph - Digital Photography

Description

This work has been FEATURED in:
Orange - Yellow - Red Photography and Prints
Gothic Romance

Although this lion's head door knocker adorned a 19th century Massachusetts farmhouse, there is a very interesting history behind these door-knockers and the symbolism associated with the lion.

"The quintessential door knocker in Georgian architecture is the brass lion head with a large brass ring gripped in its mouth. It has been used as a symbol of Great Britain for centuries. Trafalgar Square has four enormous bronze lions positioned on great granite plinths at the four corners of the base of Nelson�s Column. They are made from the melted down bronze from canons captured from French ships at The Battle of Trafalgar.All coats of arms relating to the monarchy have lions as a prominent feature of their design, usually rampant. Lions have been used symbolically since the Paleolithic period. The Egyptians carved sphinxes, half man, half lion. They symbolise power and strength, courage and fortitude. You can go to any part of London and you will come across Victorian or Georgian housing still with their original door furniture. Very often the door furniture will include a brass lion head door knocker. This could be a sign of Victorian and Georgian confidence. A sign for people of the greatest and largest empire the world has ever known. For the visitor it is their first contact with the house and a way of communicating their arrival by lifting the knocker and rapping it smartly against its back plate. The back plate to a lion head knocker is the lion�s head. Knocking on a door does two things. First it makes the visitor take hold of the house. The hand grips the knocker. It is a like a handshake; a very English form of greeting. Secondly, through the sound of the knock it communicates to the occupants that somebody is visiting. The way the door is knocked can express other things too like haste, frustration, timidity or confidence.The fact that many Georgian houses have door knockers that are the originals means that we today in the 21st century, who are still using these door knockers to gain entrance, have a palpable, physical connection to people from past generations and from all classes of a past society.The servants belonging to the Georgian household would not have used the doorknocker of their own house. They would have slipped down the flight of stone steps near the front gate, to the servant�s quarters in the basement. However a footman or servant sent with a message or communication from another household would have used the front door knocker. The owners of the house would have knocked to alert their footman to open the door to them and their friends would have knocked to gain entrance too. "

Source: Tony Grant on http://janeaustensworld.wordpress.com/2012/05/01/lion-door-knockers-in-georgian-britain/

Uploaded

November 15th, 2013