18th Century Bronze Sculpture Group of Drunken Silenus with Bacchante and Satyr

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18th Century Bronze Sculpture Group of Drunken Silenus with Bacchante and Satyr

About the Item

In classical mythology, Silenus was a forest satyr who was the lifelong friend and tutor of Bacchus (Gk: Dionysius). Although he was renown for his wisdom, musical skills and prophetic powers, he is often depicted as an old drunken reveler with a dissolute retinue. As such, he was a natural subject for artists of the Northern tradition, unconstrained by classical tenets of decorum. The composition of this group originated in various paintings and drawings of related subjects executed in the late-1610s by the celebrated Flemish artist Peter Paul Rubens, who himself was inspired by a classical marble of the subject (Dresden). Ruben’s images spawned countless copies and variants across Europe in both two and three dimensions. Georg Petel (1601/2-circa 1634), a Bavarian sculptor who was friendly with Rubens, made several versions in ivory of the Drunken Silenus group both as reliefs and as independent figures, in the years around 1630, of which an ivory relief on tankard is in the Städtisches Museum in Augsburg. Lucas Faydherbe (1617-1697), who trained under Rubens, or his workshop also made various terracotta reliefs of the Drunken Silenus group in the 1630s-1640s. It seems likely that it was from such sculptural sources rather than directly from Ruben’s work, that the model for this bronze was derived, although it remains uncertain exactly when and by whom. Casts of the bronze are rare - only six others are known- and each varies somewhat in its details, particularly in the heads of the two attendants. Two are to be found in Paris museums (Musée du Louvre and Musée d’Art Decoratifs), while those in Stockholm and Braunshweig (first inventoried in 1753) were probably acquired in Paris. This may imply an origin for the bronze group in Paris in the early 18th century. This is consistent with the facture and finish of the fifth version in the Wallace Collection, London; and with the high interest in Ruben’s art in France in this period. A sixth version is in a private collection in the United States. This provenance of this sculpture is Christies' (New York).

Dimensions:
Height: 7.5 in (19.05 cm)Diameter: 4.5 in (11.43 cm)
Style:
Baroque (Of the Period)
Materials and Techniques:
Bronze,Gilt
Place of Origin:
France
Period:
Early 18th Century
Date of Manufacture:
Early 18th Century
Condition:
Seller Location:
Kensington, MD
Reference Number:
1stDibs: f97761509243112573fs