Statue of Dionysus, Torso Restored as Apollo Citharoedus, with Non-Original Head

Roman art

Originally representing a nude and youthful Dionysus/Baccus, this statue was restored and integrated as Apollo Citharoedus, nude and standing on his right leg, with his left slightly bent and moved to the back and his head turned to the left, towards the hand holding the lyre. The head, characterised by a hair knot in the shape of a bow, corresponds to an iconography that is attested for both Dionysus and Apollo, although even an iconic statue of Venus could be considered as a possible origin. Both the rendering of the torso, with its ample sturdy shapes, and the head suggest the statue may date to the second century CE.

The statue may perhaps be identified with the ‘Apollo with lyre’ mentioned by Domenico Montelatici in the first enclosure of the Villa in 1700. Restored in 1828 by Francesco Massimiliano Laboureurneven, it was then placed in Room II, where it is still displayed today.

Object details

Commentary

The statue may coincide with the ‘Apollo with lyre’ mentioned by Domenico Montelatici in the first enclosure of the Villa in 1700. We know that this iconography already characterised the sculpture in 1828, when it was entrusted to the sculptor Francesco Massimiliano Laboureur for restoration in view of the set up of the new collection in the Casino, impoverished by the massive sale of works to Napoleon Bonaparte (Moreno, Sforzini 1987, p. 361). In 1832, Antonio Nibby mentions it as being displayed in the room where it still stands today, above the funeral altar of M. Ulpio Eliadio.

Originally depicting a Dionysus/Baccus, the god of drunkenness, characterised by a heavy body and thick curly hair falling over the shoulders, the statue was restored and amply integrated as an Apollo Citharoedus, nude and standing on his right leg, with his left slightly bent and moved backwards and his head turned to the left, towards the hand holding the lyre. The Borghese statue is a typical outcome of restoration as interpreted since the early seventeenth century, by which a recovered ancient torso was sometimes completely transformed, as happened with two other torsos of Dionysus conserved respectively in Palazzo Lancellotti ai Coronari (SAR inv. no. 23) and in the Giustiniani collection (inv.12/00083051), in both cases integrated with non-original heads (Candilio 2008, pp. 149-151, no. 3; Buccino 2001, pp. 216-17, cat. no. 12).

The head of the Borghese statue is characterised by a hair knot in the shape of a bow at the top of the head, with remarkable similarities to the Lancellotti sculpture, in keeping with an iconography attested for both Dionysus and Apollo, although an original belonging to an iconic statue connoted as Aphrodite cannot be excluded, as the large protruding eyes would suggest (Moreno, Viacava 2003, p. 184).

The torso was undoubtedly and originally a nude Dionysus with a youthful appearance, a recurring subject in Roman sculpture. Among the many versions, the positioning of the arms, the marked arching of the right side – due to the original leaning of the figure on a lateral support – the lowered left shoulder and the soft, sinuous rhythm recall the ‘Madrid-Varese’ type whose eponymous sculptures are respectively in the Prado Museum (inv. E 87; Schroeder 2004, pp. 239-243; Schroeder 2009, 196-198, no. 20) and at Villa Pogliaghi, also known as the ‘Richelieu type’, from the statue in the Louvre collections (inv. MA 87; Gasparri 1986, pp. 435-36, no. 122). The god iconography is based on an ancient model, which can be traced back to late-classical production and to the sphere of the sculptor Praxiteles or, according to others, that of Timotheus. Dionysus was not the protagonist of a specific mythological narrative, but was presented as a divine image of youthful beauty, a benefactor of mankind bearing his gifts, grapes and wine. For these reasons, the model in question was often used in Roman times in ideal sculptures used for decorative purposes, widely disseminated in private villas and public baths as an expression of otium, of the serene life devoted to pleasures. The large number of known depictions, differentiated by minimal variations, do not allow for the hypothesis of a definite common prototype. Rather, they highlight the great freedom of the different sculptors in their treatment of the subject, suggesting that this depiction of the divinity may rather be a classicist Roman-era creation.

Both the rendering of the torso and the head suggest a date in the second century CE, corresponding with the period of maximum circulation of known replicas of this typology.

Jessica Clementi