Deirdre Jackson, Assistant Curator of Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts
McKim’s friend Daniel Chester French, one of the most prominent American sculptors of the day, recommended that the architect engage Edward Clark Potter to sculpt the marble lionesses that grace the Library’s entrance. In 1903, Potter was awarded a commission of $10,000 to sculpt the female guardian lions that would be placed on inclined pedestals on either side of the front steps. He sketched live models at the new Lion House at the Bronx Zoo and then sculpted a lioness in clay in his studio in Greenwich, Connecticut. Next, plaster models were made to guide the stonecutter, who worked with large blocks of Tennessee marble. Potter likely hired John Grignola, an accomplished Italian immigrant carver, to execute the work.
Potter went on to sculpt the celebrated male lions that were installed outside the New York Public Library in 1911.