I was at the Capitoline Museum in Rome last November. The Capitoline has been on my bucket list for a while now. Despite being in Rome four times in recent years, I never stopped in. This last visit, I devoted a full day to my journey through antiquity. I’ve posted many of my vacation photos…
Satyr Watching Nymphs Dancing
Satyr watching Some Nymphs Dancing, Josep Maria Sert, 1913, Spain. Black and silver grisaille on canvas panel. This panel was part of the painted scheme that Josep María Sert produced for the decoration of Kent House owned by Sir Saxton Noble in Knightsbridge, London. It forms a pair with Apollo flying through the Clouds, also in the Colección…
Satyre by René Lalique
Satyre, Perfume Bottle with Stopper by René Lalique, 1933, Corning Museum of Glass. René Jules Lalique was a French glass designer known for his creations of glass art, perfume bottles, vases, jewelry, chandeliers, clocks, and automobile hood ornaments.
Venus and Satyr with Two Cupids
Venus and Satyr with Two Cupids is a painting by Annibale Carracci. The work is also known as La Baccante. Given the explicit sensuality of the painting, due to the nudity of the goddess, whose buttocks are exposed, a clear sexual allusion was seen in the work, further emphasized by the contrast between the opulent and rosy forms of…
Removing a Splinter
A Satyr and Two Maenads Removing a Splinter, Claudius Carl Gustav Klingstedt, 1713, Gouache on ivory I love the fact that one of the satyrs is wearing spectacles and that two of the figures are looking straight at us. The fourth wall is broken creating an alarming composition that invites us to spy on an…
The Maenads and Satyrs of Jules Scalbert
Maenads were originally nymphs, and later human Priestesses who carried on the traditions of their Foremothers in dance, song, feasting, free sexual expression, and ritual. Jules Scalbert was a student of Isidore Pils and Henri Lehmann, both masters of 19th-century historic genre painting. Like his teachers, he was drawn to mythology, religion, and history, using…
Exploring the Myth of Jupiter and Antiope (Part III)
Antiope by Michael Field (Pseud. for Katharine Bradley and Edith Cooper) NOONTIDE’S whiteness of full sun Illumes her sleep ; Its heat is on her limbs and one White arm with sweep Of languor falls around her head : She cuddles on the lap of earth ; While almost dead Asleep, forgetful of his mirth, A…
Satyr and Damsel
This is more than likely a rendition of Jupiter and Antiope where Jupiter is stealing the blankets from the princess. However, I do find there is a certain tenderness to this scene absent the voyeurism so often associated with this myth. I think perhaps it’s because the woman is shown fully clothed versus half dressed….
Sleeping Diana Watched by Two Fauns
Arnold Böcklin (1877/85) The contrast between the bright luminescent Goddess of Hunting Diana, champion of chasteness, and the in part lecherous, in part fearful furry fauns watching her could hardly be greater. Their hands almost meet in the center of the canvas, but the rear faun just manages to hold back his companion in time….
Sala di Amore e Psiche
Giulio Romano (1524) The fresco on the western side wall represents the wedding banquet to celebrate Amore and Psiche’s wedding. Satyrs and voluptuous young women join together to enjoy the party and mingle with some characters drew from Federico’s real guests. In this way, Giulio Romano is able to mirror in Apuleio’s myth the Gonzaga family and…
Hymn of Pan by Shelley
Hymn of Pan By Percy Bysshe Shelley From the forests and highlands We come, we come; From the river-girt islands, Where loud waves are dumb Listening to my sweet pipings. The wind in the reeds and the rushes, The bees on the bells of thyme, The birds on the myrtle bushes, The cicale above…
The Pan Terminus In My Garden
Last Spring we purchased the Pan Terminus from Haddonstone. The 2K pound statue defied all kinds of equipment and efforts to erect it (pun intended). My husband and I had to finally purchase an engine hoist and hope for the best. Like they say in Italy, an inch is as good as a mile. The…
The Faun and the Woodcutter’s Daughter Barbara Leonie Picard
This is one of the most beautiful and lyrical books of original fairy tales I’ve ever read. A companion volume to the exceptional The Lady and the Linden Tree (1962), [The Faun and the Woodcutter’s Daughter] illustrates once again [Barbara Leonie Picard’s] knack of wrapping new story fabric around traditional material. The fourteen fairy tales…
Bacchus From Siena
While we were in Siena, we came across a wonderful ceramic shop called Antica Siena located on Piazza del Campo and instantly fell in love with this Bacchus. It’s like he was waiting for us. We bought him instantly and arranged to have him delivered home. The piece is quite large and heavy and would have proved difficult…
Dyonisian Architectural Salvage
This Bacchus was saved from a building that was recently demolished in NYC and is now for sale. He’s nearly 6 feet tall. I keep thinking about all the amazing things he’s seen through the years perched up 25 stories above the metropolis. I absolutely love this piece of NYC history. So glad he was…
Frisky Satyr 