Ludovisi Dionysus

Palazzo Altemps

, Rome

The over-lifesize marble Dionysus with Panther and Satyr in the

Cardinal Ludovico Ludovisi in the villa's extensive grounds. By 1885, it had been removed to the new Palazzo del Principe di Piombino, nearby in via Veneto. With the rest of the Boncompagni-Ludovisi collection, which was open to the public on Sundays and covered in the guidebooks,^[5] and where it had become famous,^[6] it was purchased in 1901 for the City of Rome, as the Ludovisi

collection was dispersed and the Villa's ground built over at the end of the 19th century.

The formula, with somewhat exaggerated

Apollo Lyceus, which is variously attributed and dated. This ivy-crowned Dionysus is accompanied by the panther that signalises his numinous presence, and a satyr of reduced size, a member of his retinue. Long locks of his hair fall girlishly over his shoulders and in his left hand he holds a bunch of grapes, emblematic of his status as god of wine

.
The original elements are the heads, torsos and thighs of Dionysus and the satyr. The arms of the satyr and the lower legs and base are modern— that is, 16th-century— restorations.

Notes

^ Inventory number 8606.

^ It appeared in Giovan Battista Cavalieri, Antiquarum Statuarum Urbis Romae tertius et quartus liber, (Rome, 1594), plate 74.

^ According to the tradition recorded by the sculptor-dealer and diarist Flaminio Vacca, Memorie di varie antichità trovate in diversi luoghi della citta di Roma, Rome, 1704, (memoria 37).

^ Gruppo colossale di Dionisio e satiro: description, history, conservation, bibliography

^ (Octavian Blewitt) Handbook for travellers in central Italy (Murray), Part II, 1853, s.v. "Rome §79 Villas" etc.

^ "The youthful, or so-called Theban Bacchus, was carried to ideal beauty by Praxiteles... The finest statue of this kind is in the villa Ludovisi" (William Smith, A New Classical Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography, Mythology and Geography, 1871, s.v. "Dionysus"); "...the eyes most intense and soft; the hair in curls, close to the head, brown with streaks of gold, strangely resembling the hair of some Greek statue — perhaps the Ludovisi Bacchus..." (William Francis Barry, Arden Massiter, 1900, p. 16.)

References

Venetucci, Beatrice Palma. Museo Nazionale Romano. Le Sculture vol. I.4, Antonio Giuliano ed., Rome, 1983:84-90

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Major exhibits at the Museo Nazionale Romano
Ludovico Ludovisi Collection

Hermes Ludovisi

Juno Ludovisi

Ludovisi Ares

Ludovisi Dionysus

Ludovisi Gaul

Ludovisi Battle sarcophagus

Ludovisi Throne

Aphrodite of Menophantos

Boxer at Rest

Dionysus Sardanapalus

Discobolus

Hellenistic Prince

Hera Borghese

House of the Vestals Hoards

Portonaccio sarcophagus

Tiber Apollo

Tiber Dionysus

Via Labicana Augustus

Villa of Livia

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[1] Inventory number 8606.

[2] It appeared in Giovan Battista Cavalieri, Antiquarum Statuarum Urbis Romae tertius et quartus liber, (Rome, 1594), plate 74.

[3] According to the tradition recorded by the sculptor-dealer and diarist Flaminio Vacca, Memorie di varie antichità trovate in diversi luoghi della citta di Roma, Rome, 1704, (memoria 37).

[4] Gruppo colossale di Dionisio e satiro: description, history, conservation, bibliography

[5] (Octavian Blewitt) Handbook for travellers in central Italy (Murray), Part II, 1853, s.v. "Rome §79 Villas" etc.

[6] "The youthful, or so-called Theban Bacchus, was carried to ideal beauty by Praxiteles... The finest statue of this kind is in the villa Ludovisi" (William Smith, A New Classical Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography, Mythology and Geography, 1871, s.v. "Dionysus"); "...the eyes most intense and soft; the hair in curls, close to the head, brown with streaks of gold, strangely resembling the hair of some Greek statue — perhaps the Ludovisi Bacchus..." (William Francis Barry, Arden Massiter, 1900, p. 16.)

[5]

[6]