6. Leo

Medium: Intaglio with hand coloring
Edition: 6/20
Dimensions: Plate 11.75x8.5; Paper 16.75x15"

Leo the lion is an impressive and easy to recognize constellation that dominates the spring skies in the Northern Hemisphere and the autumn skies in the Southern Hemisphere.
The Dendera Zodiac is a large sandstone relief sculpture first noticed by Europeans in 1799 by an officer of Napoleon in the temple of Isis on the Nile River in Dendera Egypt. It is a star map believed to date from the time of Cleopatra in the first century BC depicting constellation figures indigenous to, not only Egypt, but also to Mesopotamia and Greece. The Dendera Zodiac depicts a lion in the area of the sky that is associated with Leo.
The most common Roman myth identified with Leo is that of the Neaman lion that Heracles was sent to kill as the first of his twelve labors. This hungry lion had two mouths and had been snacking on the inhabitants of his nearby village. The lion's skin was magical and impervious to all weapons. Heracles slayed the lion and uses his pelt as a protective cloak.