Old Master Sculpture & Works of Art
Old Master Sculpture & Works of Art
Italian, Rome, late 18th/ early 19th century | Bust of Dionysus
Lot Closed
July 6, 03:14 PM GMT
Estimate
20,000 - 30,000 GBP
Lot Details
Description
Italian, Rome, late 18th/ early 19th century
After the Antique
Bust of Dionysus
white marble, on a green scagliola and white marble column
bust: 74cm., 29in.
column: 131cm., 51 1/2 in.
Please note that this lot will be sent to our Greenford Park warehouse following the sale.
Distinguished private collection, United Kingdom
This impressive marble is based on a Roman bust of Dionysus from the late Hadrianic period (AD 117-138), now preserved in the Capitoline Museums in Rome. A copy after a fourth-century BC Greek original, the ancient marble was part of a group of sculptures donated by Pope Pius V to the Palazzo dei Conservatori in 1566. In 1797 it was handed over to the French under the terms of the Treaty of Tolentino; however, following the defeat of Napoleon, it was returned to Rome in 1816 and reinstalled in the Capitoline Museums.
The god of wine is depicted as a beautiful young man, wearing a fillet across his forehead, his luxuriant curls of hair crowned with vine leaves. His downcast gaze is fixed in a calm expression, and his youthful features are characterised by softly modelled cheeks, a straight nose and full lips. This arguably feminine representation of the god has resulted in the bust's former identification as a woman, usually a Bacchante or Ariadne. The legendary art historian J. J. Winckelmann (1717-1768) lauded its exuberant beauty in his writings, believing its subject to be the sea goddess Leucothea.
A faithful replica of the antique model, the present bust exhibits an astonishing refinement of carving, particularly in the virtuoso rendering of the hair, and the delicate handling of facial features. Its quality indicates the authorship of a highly skilled marble carver who may have been engaged in the restoration of antiquities in Rome. A similar level of technical accomplishment can be observed, for example, in the work of Bartolomeo Cavaceppi (1716-1799). A version of the model sold at Christie's New York on 19 June 2020 (there erroneously identified as Melpomene), bearing Cavaceppi's signature, is comparable to the present marble in the shape of its truncation and design of the socle.
The god of wine is depicted as a beautiful young man, wearing a fillet across his forehead, his luxuriant curls of hair crowned with vine leaves. His downcast gaze is fixed in a calm expression, and his youthful features are characterised by softly modelled cheeks, a straight nose and full lips. This arguably feminine representation of the god has resulted in the bust's former identification as a woman, usually a Bacchante or Ariadne. The legendary art historian J. J. Winckelmann (1717-1768) lauded its exuberant beauty in his writings, believing its subject to be the sea goddess Leucothea.
A faithful replica of the antique model, the present bust exhibits an astonishing refinement of carving, particularly in the virtuoso rendering of the hair, and the delicate handling of facial features. Its quality indicates the authorship of a highly skilled marble carver who may have been engaged in the restoration of antiquities in Rome. A similar level of technical accomplishment can be observed, for example, in the work of Bartolomeo Cavaceppi (1716-1799). A version of the model sold at Christie's New York on 19 June 2020 (there erroneously identified as Melpomene), bearing Cavaceppi's signature, is comparable to the present marble in the shape of its truncation and design of the socle.