Wender·Vista
New York Public Library lions Patience and Fortitude
shown on ceramic, 12-inch tileNew York
on Fifth Avenue at 42nd Street, Manhattan

New York Public Library lions Patience and Fortitude

— — two stone lions, still listening.

— Where it lives

Not only on a wall.

A small tile on the nightstand catching the morning. A larger one above the fire. Yours, wherever you spend the slow hours.
— On the nightstand, a 6-inch on a walnut stand
— Among the books, a 6-inch leaning into the spines
— Beside the kettle, a 12-inch propped
— Down a quiet hall, an 18-inch floating off the wall
— Above the fire, the 24-inch in a walnut surround
— a note from the studio

“Patience to the south, Fortitude to the north. The two pink Tennessee marble lions outside the main branch of the New York Public Library at Fifth and 42nd, sculpted by Edward Clark Potter and carved by the Piccirilli Brothers in 1911. Mayor Fiorello La Guardia gave them their names during the Depression, for the virtues he thought New Yorkers needed most. They have been sat between by every kind of person the city makes.

from the studio
New York Public Library lions Patience and Fortitude
— bring it home

New York Public Library lions Patience and Fortitude, on ceramic.

Each tile is finished by hand in our Knoxville studio. Artwork is slowly infused into the ceramic surface under high heat and pressure, and rests beneath a thin glossy finish. The colour lives in the surface, not on top of it.

What kind of piece?
One tile — square or rectangle.
How big?
the popular one — counter, shelf, nightstand
6 × 6 in · 15 cm · 1.6 lb
Surface finish
A clear glossy finish — the artwork reads as if under resin. Ideal for show-pieces and framed wall art.
How it sits
A hidden cleat — sits ¼″ proud of the wall.
$58
Hand-finished and shipped from our studio at the foot of the Smokies. On your wall in about ten days.
— size
6 × 6 in
15 cm
— weighs
1.6 lb
solid in the hand
— surface
ceramic, hand-finished
art rests beneath a thin glossy finish
— from
Knoxville, TN
our family studio, at the foot of the Smokies
— start a Coaster Set

Pick any four 4-inch tiles — National Parks you've been to, a Smokies set, the four seasons of one place. $ for a set of , cork-backed, ready to live on the table.

— about New York Public Library lions Patience and Fortitude

The place, in three passes.

A little of what's known, in case you fall down the rabbit hole — or want to go see it yourself.
— the place

The Stephen A. Schwarzman Building, the central branch of the New York Public Library, opened on Fifth Avenue at 42nd Street in 1911 on the cleared site of the old Croton Reservoir. Carrère & Hastings designed the Beaux-Arts marble structure, the largest marble building in the United States at the time of its completion. The two lions on the front steps were carved by the Piccirilli Brothers from quarried Tennessee pink marble to a design by sculptor Edward Clark Potter. The building was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1965.

— the stone

Tennessee pink marble, quarried near Knoxville, is one of the hardest building marbles in North America and one of the few coloured marbles used at architectural scale in nineteenth- and early twentieth-century American civic work. Edward Clark Potter modeled the lions in clay; the Piccirilli Brothers, a six-brother Italian-American workshop in the Bronx, did the actual carving in 1910 and 1911. The same workshop carved Daniel Chester French's seated Lincoln for the Lincoln Memorial a decade later. The lions originally went by the unromantic names Leo Astor and Leo Lenox, for the Library's founding benefactors.

— the visit

The Schwarzman Building is open Monday through Saturday and Sunday afternoons, with hours that vary by season and by reading room. Admission is free. The lions stand on the steps in every season; they have been periodically restored, most recently in the late 2010s, by marble conservators working under tarps you could see from the street. The Library does not police photographs on the steps and has not for more than a hundred years; weddings, graduations, and protest signs have passed between Patience and Fortitude in roughly equal measure.

— where
United States · Midtown Manhattan, New York City
— position
40.7532° N · 73.9822° W
— the neighborhood

What's nearby.

A handful of named places within an hour's walk or short drive. Some we've already painted; some we will.
at the lake
Bryant Park
park
at the lake
Grand Central Terminal
train terminal
1 km W
Times Square
plaza
1 km N
Rockefeller Center
complex
1 km S
Empire State Building
skyscraper
N
New York Public Library lions Patience and Fortitude
Bryant Park
Grand Central Terminal
Times Square
Rockefeller Center
Empire State Building
— common questions

What people ask.

A few questions we get about New York Public Library lions Patience and Fortitude — and about bringing the piece home.
— about the place

Patience to the south and Fortitude to the north. Mayor Fiorello La Guardia gave them the names in the 1930s, for the virtues he thought New Yorkers needed to weather the Depression. They were Leo Astor and Leo Lenox before that.

Edward Clark Potter modeled the lions; the Piccirilli Brothers, an Italian-American workshop in the Bronx, carved them in 1910 and 1911. The Piccirillis also carved Daniel Chester French's seated Lincoln for the Lincoln Memorial a decade later.

Tennessee pink marble, quarried near Knoxville. It is one of the hardest building marbles in North America and was favoured by American civic architects in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries for its colour and durability.

The Stephen A. Schwarzman Building, the Library's central branch, opened to the public on May 23, 1911. It stands on the cleared site of the old Croton Reservoir at Fifth Avenue and 42nd Street, and is a National Historic Landmark.

Yes. The Schwarzman Building is a working research library open to the public, free of charge, with hours that vary by reading room. The Rose Main Reading Room on the third floor is the building's most photographed interior.

— about the piece in your home

Yes. The lions are one of the city's quieter emblems, beloved by people who live there. A Small or Medium reads well in a Manhattan apartment; a Coaster Set carries the lions to a desk.

The warm pink marble and library light suit Pre-war New York, Maximalist Library, and Old-world Eclectic interiors. Walnut, brass, leather-bound books, and oxblood walls sit easily with it. The piece also reads well against deep green.

A single Large carries a standard sofa. Above a long console or hall table, a four-tile Mural reads as one painting; the nine-tile Mural belongs above a city dining sideboard or a study fireplace.

Yes. Specify Dura Satin or Matte for damp rooms; both resist scratching and read softer under task lighting. The Glossy finish is best kept to framed wall art in living spaces and home libraries.

Microfibre cloth and clean water. No abrasives, no bleach, no ammonia. The colour lives in the ceramic surface beneath a thin glossy finish, so dust and fingerprints lift off in seconds.

— if this one stayed with you

A few you might also love.

Hand-picked by the eye that found Sorapis. Same air, same kind of quiet.