Lion in London

This afternoon, while touring the Tower of London, I came upon a very familiar shape amongst the armor and ordinances that were so very British.

The shape was not English, it was unmistakably Venetian.

The description was just about what I'd expected:

Of course there was an absence of any mention of Venice. 
I guess the British were busy celebrating, having scored one against Napoleon - can't say I blame 'em.

Then I took a good look at the actual statue:

Mhmm, no book.

They captured Corfu, snagged the lion, but managed to come away without the book (either that or it was out for cleaning today).

This statue us not a small one.  I realize that the photo doesn't offer much to figure out the scale, but I can tell you that the lion looked to me like it was about the same size as a real lion.

He does seem to have an odd shaped mouth, but then I'm really no expert on Venetian Lions.

As I was walking out of the place,
I noticed over the door...another Lion!

I couldn't find any description on this one,

but there was no mistaking it - the piece was either from Venice,

or from somewhere that had been controlled by Venice.