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Lot Essay
Satyrs and silenoi - drunken men with goat-like features - were a vital part of the mythological procession of Dionysus, god of wine (or Bacchus, the name adopted in Roman mythology). This entourage of ecstatic revellers served to emphasise the god's association with ritual madness, a cult which gave rise to the development of Greek tragedy in classical Athens. Silenus, the wise companion and tutor of Dionysus, is often represented in art as an old satyr with a pot belly, carried by a goat or a donkey to support him in his excessive drunkenness - much like in the present statue. Such playful representations of satyrs proved a highly popular subject for sculpture from the Hellenistic age to the Roman Empire, as the experience of drinking wine and its effects continued to fascinate and entertain ancient society.
Bartolomeo Cavaceppi (1716-1799) was the leading restorer of ancient sculpture in Rome at the time, and at the height of his career ran a workshop which employed over fifty sculptors and assistants, producing thousands of pieces. The British were undoubtedly his biggest patrons, and collections where his work was found included Newby, Townley, Holkham, Lansdowne, Nostel Priory, Ince Bludell and Marbury Hall. In 1768 he published the first of his three volume Raccolta d'antiche statue. Each book contained sixty large carefully etched and engraved plates of antiquities restored in Cavaceppi's studio. In Cavaceppi's essay at the beginning of Raccolta I, he recounted why it was essential that fragmentary ancient sculpture be restored. He went on to relay his restoration scheme: the restorer should have a thorough knowledge of ancient history and mythology; the marble used should match exactly and copy the style of the ancient work completely; the restored parts must fit perfectly and be finished whilst attached; and the joins between ancient and modern should be casual and irregular, with dowels rather than cement to ensure permanence. This statue was illustrated on plate 39 as already being 'in Inghilterra' along with another 34 sculptures.
As the craze for classical art and sculpture swept over Britain and the rest of Europe during the second half of the 18th Century, Rome established itself as the centre to which English milordi flocked in pursuit of culture and souvenirs. Adolf Michaelis, the renowned German historian of ancient art, called this period the 'Golden Age of Classic Dilettantism' remarking: 'In an unintermitting stream the ancient marbles of Rome poured into the palaces of the aristocracy in Britain whose wealth in some cases afforded the means of gratifying real artistic taste by these rare possessions, and in others enabled them at any rate to fall into the new fashion of dilettantism, the 'furore' for ancient art'. Opportunities for purchasing marbles abounded at this time as some of the great Roman collections were dispersed (Barberini, Giustiniani, Ludovisi and others); speculative excavations were also undertaken which yielded vast quantities of treasures.
The market was largely controlled by a number of Britons residing in Rome who acted as agents between Italian families and Cardinals who sold to the predominantly English clientele. These agents employed Italian restorers and worked with notable sculptors of the day, such as Bartolomeo Cavaceppi, Piranesi and Joseph Nollekens, and also undertook their own excavations. The most notable of these British agents were the painter Gavin Hamilton (d. 1797) and the flamboyant Thomas Jenkins (d. 1798).
Twice Prime Minister of Great Britain, Charles Watson-Wentworth, 2nd Marquess of Rockingham (d. 1782) was a connoisseur-collector for much of his life. As a young man on the Grand Tour, he was, in 1749, asked by his father to buy statues in Rome for the Grand Hall at Wentworth Woodhouse. The young man ordered eight statues, copies after the Antique, from the best sculptors in Rome and Florence. At the same time, in Florence, he bought the great Samson group by Vicenzo Foggini, now in the Victoria and Albert Museum. The Grand Tour was cut short in 1750 by the death of his father and he returned to England and his great inheritance. Wentworth Woodhouse seems to have been complete by 1771 and the Grand Hall was described as 'beyond all comparison the finest room in England'. The Silenus astride a goat was in the Gallery at Wentworth, according to the 1782 inventory, along with only one other sculpture - a plaster bust of Clytie. However, certainly by 1906, when it was photographed in Country Life Magazine, the piece was located in the Grand Hall along with the majority of the sculptures.
Bartolomeo Cavaceppi (1716-1799) was the leading restorer of ancient sculpture in Rome at the time, and at the height of his career ran a workshop which employed over fifty sculptors and assistants, producing thousands of pieces. The British were undoubtedly his biggest patrons, and collections where his work was found included Newby, Townley, Holkham, Lansdowne, Nostel Priory, Ince Bludell and Marbury Hall. In 1768 he published the first of his three volume Raccolta d'antiche statue. Each book contained sixty large carefully etched and engraved plates of antiquities restored in Cavaceppi's studio. In Cavaceppi's essay at the beginning of Raccolta I, he recounted why it was essential that fragmentary ancient sculpture be restored. He went on to relay his restoration scheme: the restorer should have a thorough knowledge of ancient history and mythology; the marble used should match exactly and copy the style of the ancient work completely; the restored parts must fit perfectly and be finished whilst attached; and the joins between ancient and modern should be casual and irregular, with dowels rather than cement to ensure permanence. This statue was illustrated on plate 39 as already being 'in Inghilterra' along with another 34 sculptures.
As the craze for classical art and sculpture swept over Britain and the rest of Europe during the second half of the 18th Century, Rome established itself as the centre to which English milordi flocked in pursuit of culture and souvenirs. Adolf Michaelis, the renowned German historian of ancient art, called this period the 'Golden Age of Classic Dilettantism' remarking: 'In an unintermitting stream the ancient marbles of Rome poured into the palaces of the aristocracy in Britain whose wealth in some cases afforded the means of gratifying real artistic taste by these rare possessions, and in others enabled them at any rate to fall into the new fashion of dilettantism, the 'furore' for ancient art'. Opportunities for purchasing marbles abounded at this time as some of the great Roman collections were dispersed (Barberini, Giustiniani, Ludovisi and others); speculative excavations were also undertaken which yielded vast quantities of treasures.
The market was largely controlled by a number of Britons residing in Rome who acted as agents between Italian families and Cardinals who sold to the predominantly English clientele. These agents employed Italian restorers and worked with notable sculptors of the day, such as Bartolomeo Cavaceppi, Piranesi and Joseph Nollekens, and also undertook their own excavations. The most notable of these British agents were the painter Gavin Hamilton (d. 1797) and the flamboyant Thomas Jenkins (d. 1798).
Twice Prime Minister of Great Britain, Charles Watson-Wentworth, 2nd Marquess of Rockingham (d. 1782) was a connoisseur-collector for much of his life. As a young man on the Grand Tour, he was, in 1749, asked by his father to buy statues in Rome for the Grand Hall at Wentworth Woodhouse. The young man ordered eight statues, copies after the Antique, from the best sculptors in Rome and Florence. At the same time, in Florence, he bought the great Samson group by Vicenzo Foggini, now in the Victoria and Albert Museum. The Grand Tour was cut short in 1750 by the death of his father and he returned to England and his great inheritance. Wentworth Woodhouse seems to have been complete by 1771 and the Grand Hall was described as 'beyond all comparison the finest room in England'. The Silenus astride a goat was in the Gallery at Wentworth, according to the 1782 inventory, along with only one other sculpture - a plaster bust of Clytie. However, certainly by 1906, when it was photographed in Country Life Magazine, the piece was located in the Grand Hall along with the majority of the sculptures.