Italian school of the Grand Tour, 19th century.

Italian school of the Grand Tour, 19th century.
"Dancing Faun".
Patinated bronze.
Carrara marble pedestal.
Presents some scratches.
Measurements: 73 x 35 x 28 cm; 18 x 30 x 30 (base).

Bronze sculpture, replica of the so-called "dancing faun", which gave its name to the Pompeian house where it was found. It is a satyr crowned with oak leaves. He is in a Dionysian dancing posture, with his arms raised and resting on the tips of his toes. His right leg advances forward.

The sculpture of the faun was found in the center of the atrium on the white limestone impluvium. Archaeologists discovered an inscription with the nickname Saturninus, suggesting that the dwelling was owned by the important gens, or clan, Satria; a ring with the surname Cassius was also found, indicating that someone from the Cassii family married into the gens Satria and lived in the House of the Faun. This piece follows the aesthetics of the aforementioned Pompeian sculpture found in 1830, currently housed in the Archaeological Museum of Naples. Current research, following Robertson's line, questions whether it dates from the classical period, considering instead a copy of a Hellenistic piece, from the environment of Lysippus or later.

In the years following the discovery, the statue became known and became an object of worship for travelers on the Grand Tour in Italy. The term "Grand Tour", which appears for the first time in the work "El Voyage d'Italie" by Richard Lassels, was used to define the long journey through Europe, especially Italy, that young British aristocrats usually made from the seventeenth century, but especially throughout the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. The purpose of the trip was for young people to become acquainted with the art and culture of France and Italy, to admire classical art at first hand, to learn or improve their knowledge of languages, and to establish contacts and relationships with the cultural and political elites of these countries. Travelers were often looking for pieces with which to start their own art collections, objects to take back to their places of residence as souvenirs. For this reason, workshops specialized in the replica of Roman pieces, both in bronze and marble, emerged, some of which acquired a great reputation.