CIRCA 2ND-3RD CENTURY A.D.

This robust, muscular torso of a satyr was originally holding the infant Dionysus, as evinced by the damaged area at the chest, which projects slightly outward from body. The type is known in at least three Roman copies, one in the Louvre, one in Munich, and one in the Vatican, Museo Chiaramonti (see nos. 4.37.1-3 in P. Moreno, Lisippo, L’Arte e La Fortuna). The pose of this torso is exactly the same as the three examples cited; the satyr stands with his left leg advanced, leaning to the left, his right arm pulled back with the hand supporting the child, the left arm lowered with the hand at the child’s shoulders. The pose creates a distinctive C-shaped indentation along the spine. The damaged area at the chest would originally have connected to the child. The type has traditionally been attributed to the 4th century B.C. Greek sculptor Lysippos, because Pliny mentions that he made a satyr for Athens, but since Pliny does not specify the details of the statue, such an attribution has proven inconclusive (see p. 80 in B.S. Ridgway, Hellenistic Sculpture I, the Styles of ca. 331-200 B.C.).