The marble lion that this bronze is cast after was carved by Flaminio Vacca, from a massive Antique column capital, discovered behind the Palazzo dei Conservatori. He intended it to compliment the original Medici Lion which he himself first recorded in 1594. This Antique work has a raised right forepaw, and had originally been carved in high relief. He had it cut from its ground, in the round, by Giovanni Sciarano, the Tuscan sculptor. Vacca then carved its opposing pair to match, portraying the animal with its left forepaw raised instead, as in this example. This one he signed. The pair were moved to the Loggia dei Lanzi in Florence in 1787, where they remain.