Church Lion

  

“The wolf shall dwell with the lamb: and the leopard shall lie down with the kid: the calf and the lion, and the sheep shall abide together, and a little child shall lead them.” — Isaias xi. 6.

Henry Church Jr. was the second child born in Chagrin Falls, and became a blacksmith as was his father.  He was a self taught artist, who painted, sculpted, and forged.  This lion came and went.  Carved from sandstone by Henry Church in 1887.  Originally meant for the Triangle Park of Chagrin Falls Ohio.  Sometime around 1905 it came to the cemetery for the family's plot.

There was more to this statue. Thieves stole the child that led the lion by a chain. The chain was stolen too, and the glass eyes were taken.

 

Cleveland Art Museum was having an exhibit for the bicentennial of Cleveland, Transformations in Cleveland Art, 1796-1946. They requested this statue. The museum gave the statue plexiglass eyes. It stayed in the museum's courtyard for a number of years, then put in storage, and then decided not to have it on display. In 2014 the museum returned the statue to the cemetery.

 foto of  Henry Church Jr. & his funeral monument