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Young satyr
Roman
Imperial Period
about A.D. 150–200
Medium/Technique
Marble
Dimensions
Height: 95 cm (37 3/8 in.)
Credit Line
Bequest of Benjamin Rowland, Jr.
Accession Number1974.127
CollectionsAncient Greece and Rome
ClassificationsSculpture
Catalogue Raisonné
Sculpture in Stone (MFA), no. 172; Sculpture in Stone and Bronze (MFA), p. 111 (additional published references).
DescriptionThe young male figure with a fillet around his thick wiry hair bends over and gazes downwards to his right. His right leg is advanced and his left leg bears the weight of his body. The two small horns projecting from the forehead and the long pointed ears suggest that this is a faun or a young satyr. Lean anatomy with highly defined musculature on the torso and along the hip. The projecting pieces of marble on each thigh indicate some other object (a basin?) or animal (leaping panther?) was attached.
Condition: Both arms, both legs below the knees, the nose, and parts of the genitalia are missing. The head and left shoulder were rejoined. Five strut marks are visible on the thighs. An unfinished piece of marble protrudes from the back of the neck, possibly where the figure was attached to an architectural support. A small iron pin is visible on the marble patch on the forehead.
Scientific Analysis:
Harvard Lab No. HI094: Isotope ratios - delta13C +2.49 / delta18O -2.58, Attribution - Aphrodisias 2, Paros 2, Prokonnesos, Thasos-Cape Phaneri & Thasos-Aliki, Usak, Heracleia, Iasos, Mylasa, Naxo-Melanes; Justification - Coarse-grained marble.
Condition: Both arms, both legs below the knees, the nose, and parts of the genitalia are missing. The head and left shoulder were rejoined. Five strut marks are visible on the thighs. An unfinished piece of marble protrudes from the back of the neck, possibly where the figure was attached to an architectural support. A small iron pin is visible on the marble patch on the forehead.
Scientific Analysis:
Harvard Lab No. HI094: Isotope ratios - delta13C +2.49 / delta18O -2.58, Attribution - Aphrodisias 2, Paros 2, Prokonnesos, Thasos-Cape Phaneri & Thasos-Aliki, Usak, Heracleia, Iasos, Mylasa, Naxo-Melanes; Justification - Coarse-grained marble.
Provenance1860, the Villa Anicii on the Via Latina, Rome [see note 1]. Karol Lanckoronski (b. 1848 – d. 1933), Vienna [see note 2]; by descent to his son, Anton Lanckoronski (b. 1893 – d. 1956), Vienna and Zurich; 1939, confiscated with the Lanckoronski collection by the Gestapo, but remained at the Palais Lanckoronski, Vienna (AL 818); 1943, probably removed to the Augustinerkeller beneath the Albertina, Vienna [see note 3]; by about 1947, restituted to Anton Lanckoronski; by descent to his sister, Countess Adelheid (Adelajda) Lanckoronska (b. 1903 – d. 1980), Vienna and Zurich; June 12, 1967, Adelheid Lanckoronska sale, Sotheby’s, London (“Egyptian, Western Asiatic, Greek, Etruscan, Roman, Byzantine and Viking Antiquities"), probably lot 35, to Forrer. Between 1967 and 1972, acquired by Benjamin Rowland, Jr. (b. 1904 – d. 1972), Cambridge, MA and Brooklin, ME; 1974, bequest of Benjamin Rowland, Jr. to the MFA. (Accession Date: February 13, 1974)
NOTES:
[1] C. Vorster, Römische Skulpturen des späten Hellenismus und der Kaiserzeit 1 (1994), p. 174, no. 8.
[2] Karol Lanckoronski built his art collection at his palace in Vienna. This sculpture was probably among the numerous antiquities mentioned in the 1903 guide “Palais Lanckoronski: Jacquingasse 18” (Vienna, 1903).
[3] On the fate of the Lanckoronski collection during the National Socialist era and its subsequent restitution, see Joanna Winiewicz-Wolska, Karol Lanckoronski and his Viennese Collection (Cracow, 2014), vol. 1, pp. 341 – 403. Because the family claimed Polish citizenship, the art collection was subject to expropriation. The Gestapo confiscated the collection in 1939. Most of the antiquities remained at the Palais Lanckoronski, where they were inventoried in 1942. This sculpture is probably AL (August Lanckoronski) 818, “Jugendlicher Satyr, schreitend, in vorbeugter Haltung. Marmor. Es fehlen: beide Arme, die Beine knieabwärts. Antike Kopie auf hellenistischer Grundlage,” 96 cm., no. 1054 on the 1942 inventory (Winiewicz-Wolska, p. 483). The antiquities were moved in 1943 to the Augustinerkeller, where they remained for the duration of World War II (ibid., pp. 376, 388; and see (ibid., pp. 376, 388; and see Pia Schölnberger, "Die Bergungsmassnahmen der Graphischen Sammlung Albertina unter George Saiko," in Bergung von Kulturgut im Nationalsozialismus (Vienna, 2016), pp. 142-145). The majority of the collection was restituted to the Lanckoronski family by 1947.
NOTES:
[1] C. Vorster, Römische Skulpturen des späten Hellenismus und der Kaiserzeit 1 (1994), p. 174, no. 8.
[2] Karol Lanckoronski built his art collection at his palace in Vienna. This sculpture was probably among the numerous antiquities mentioned in the 1903 guide “Palais Lanckoronski: Jacquingasse 18” (Vienna, 1903).
[3] On the fate of the Lanckoronski collection during the National Socialist era and its subsequent restitution, see Joanna Winiewicz-Wolska, Karol Lanckoronski and his Viennese Collection (Cracow, 2014), vol. 1, pp. 341 – 403. Because the family claimed Polish citizenship, the art collection was subject to expropriation. The Gestapo confiscated the collection in 1939. Most of the antiquities remained at the Palais Lanckoronski, where they were inventoried in 1942. This sculpture is probably AL (August Lanckoronski) 818, “Jugendlicher Satyr, schreitend, in vorbeugter Haltung. Marmor. Es fehlen: beide Arme, die Beine knieabwärts. Antike Kopie auf hellenistischer Grundlage,” 96 cm., no. 1054 on the 1942 inventory (Winiewicz-Wolska, p. 483). The antiquities were moved in 1943 to the Augustinerkeller, where they remained for the duration of World War II (ibid., pp. 376, 388; and see (ibid., pp. 376, 388; and see Pia Schölnberger, "Die Bergungsmassnahmen der Graphischen Sammlung Albertina unter George Saiko," in Bergung von Kulturgut im Nationalsozialismus (Vienna, 2016), pp. 142-145). The majority of the collection was restituted to the Lanckoronski family by 1947.