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Satyr with grapes

Roman art

Date
2nd century AD
Collection
Sculpture
Location
First Corridor (A2)
Technique
Pentelic marble
Size
185 cm (height)
Inventory
1914 n. 108

Initially included in the Roman collections of the Della Valle family, this sculpture was acquired by the Medici in 1584, arriving however in Florence from the Villa Medici only in the last twenty years of the 18th century. The subject depicts a young satyr accompanied by a panther, carrying on his shoulder the skin of a fawn (nebris), using it as a bag for fruit. The character leans against a tree trunk, from behind which a small panther peeps out. Inspired by a possible bronze prototype, generically datable to the 2nd-1st century BC, the subject was copied several times in the imperial age, perhaps finding use as a garden ornament. Due to the abundant presence of traces of drill work - especially in the rendering of the fruit - a date of the late 2nd century AD has been hypothesised for this work.

Bibliography

Vinum Nostrum. Arte, scienza e miti del vino nella civiltà del Mediterraneo antico, Catalogo della mostra di Firenze, 2010, p.307, nVI.18 (L. Camin).

Text by
Fabrizio Paolucci
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