Faun with Grapes and Goat
Maker
Fonderia Chiurazzi
(Italian, founded 1870)
Dateearly 20th century
MediumBronze
Dimensions71 3/4 x 33 x 26 3/4 in. (182.2 x 83.8 x 67.9 cm)
ClassificationsSculpture
Credit LineBequest of John Ringling, 1936
Object numberSN5452
Found in 1736 at Hadrian’s Villa in Tivoli, this statue depicts a young, drunken faun (also called a satyr) admiring a bunch of grapes. The wiry musculature and physical attributes (unkempt hair, caruncles, tail) are typical of Hellenistic satyrs, while his accoutrements (<i>syrinx</i>, or pipes, hanging from the tree stump; nebris, the fawn skin garment tied at the right shoulder; grapes and pomegranates) and the presence of the goat, an animal sacred to Dionysus, reiterate the faun’s pastoral occupations. The statue was admired throughout the 18th and 19th centuries as it was carved from an ancient red marble (<i>rosso antico</i>), rarely observed in life-size ancient sculpture, in this context probably a reference to the color of wine and by extension the Dionysiac world.
On View
On view
