Dancing Satyr of Mazara del Vallo
Dancing Satyr of Mazara del Vallo | |
---|---|
Material | Bronze |
Height | 2.4 meters (original) 2 meters |
Discovered | 4 March 1998 Mediterranean Sea |
Present location | Mazara del Vallo, Sicily, Italy |
The Dancing Satyr of Mazara del Vallo is a fragmentary over-lifesize ancient Greek bronze statue, of Magna Graecia whose refinement and rapprochement with the manner of Praxiteles has made it a subject of discussion. It is an example of a dancing satyr, a sculptural archetype in Hellenistic and Roman art.[citation needed] Another well-known example is the Faun from the House of the Faun, Pompeii.
In its present state it is 2 meters high (6 ft 6 in); originally it would have been about 2.4 meters (7 ft 10 in).[1]
It was recovered from the sea floor off
Style and details
Though the satyr is missing both arms, one leg, and its separately-cast tail (originally fixed in a surviving hole at the base of the spine), its head and torso are remarkably well-preserved despite two millennia spent at the bottom of the sea. The satyr is depicted in mid-leap, head thrown back ecstatically and back arched, his hair swinging with the movement of his head. The facture is highly refined; the whites of his eyes are alabaster inlays.
A high percentage of lead in the bronze alloy suggests its being made in Rome itself.
Rediscovery and display
The torso was recovered from the sandy sea floor at a depth of 500 metres (1,600 ft) off the southwestern coast of Sicily, on the night of March 4, 1998, in the nets of the same fishing boat (operating from Mazara del Vallo, hence the sculpture's name) that had in the previous year recovered the sculpture's left leg.
Other well-known underwater finds of Greek bronzes have been retrieved from the
Restoration at the
See also
Notes
References
- (in French) Praxitèle, catalogue of the exhibition at the Louvre Museum, 23 March-28 June 2007, Louvre editions & Somogy, 2007 (978-2-35031-111-1)
- Alain Pasquier, "Praxitèle aujourd'hui ? La question des originaux", pp. 86–88,
- Jean-Luc Martinez, "Les Satyres de Praxitèle", cat. 72, pp. 284–291.
- (in Italian) Paolo Moreno, "Satiro di Prassitele", Il Satiro danzante. Camera dei Deputati, 1 aprile–2 giugno 2003, exhibition catalogue Milan, 2003, pp. 102–113.
- (in Italian) Roberto Petriaggi (dir.), Il Satiro Danzante di Mazara del Vallo, il Restauro e l'Immagine, proceedings of the conference held at the Istituto Centrale per il Restauro, Rome, June 3–4, 2003, Electa, Naples, 2005.
- (in Italian) Claudio Parisi Presicce, "Il Satiro Mainomenos di Mazara del Vallo: un Possibile Contesto Originario", Sicilia Archaeologica 36 (2003), pp. 25–40.