Statue of Dionysus with a Panther

Roman art

The sculpture, which has had a number of elements added to it, reproduces the god of inebriation, Dionysus/Bacchus. His right arm is lowered to hold the thyrsus and his left arm bent and resting on the support, while his hand is clasped around a bunch of grapes. The body is young and slender, covered cross-wise with a panther skin, while the head, turned to the left, has elaborate long hair arranged in side strands held on the forehead by a band adorned with grape leaves, corymbs, and bunches of grapes. On the support, consisting of a grapevine, the face and front legs of the panther are preserved. The work is part of a large group of Roman-era representations of the god primarily intended to adorn open spaces and gardens.

Exhibited in the 17th century in one of eight niches carved into the wall of the inner garden of the city palace of the Borghese family, from the end of the 18th century, it was moved to the exterior access to Room VI of the Casino at Villa Pinciana.

Object details

Commentary

Listed in the inventory of the primogeniture of 1610, the statue recurs together with Dionysus CXXXIV (Room IV) in Perrier’s engravings of 1638, while in Venturini’s engraving of the second half of the 17th century it is among those displayed in the eight niches carved into the wall of the inner garden of the city palace of the Borghese family decorated by Carlo Rainaldi. At the end of the 18th century it was moved along with the other sculptures to the Villa Pinciana and exhibited, along with the Dionysus mentioned, on the exterior sides of the door leading from the garden to Room VI, as attested by Percier’s watercolour in Paris of 1786-91. At the time that the sculpture was brought to the Palazzina, when the New Borghese museum was being set up following the sale of works from the collection to Napoleon Bonaparte, the statue was placed, like the other Dionysus, in Room IV, inside a niche similar to the one in which it was displayed at the Palazzo Borghese.

The sculpture, which preserves the ancient torso and initial part of the legs, has had various elements added. However, the original balance is preserved, with the left leg slightly to one side and forward, the right arm lowered to hold the thyrsus and the left arm bent and resting on the support, with the hand clasped around the kantharos, here replaced by a bunch of grapes. A pardalid, a panther skin, runs diagonally across the torso from the left shoulder to cover the top of the left thigh, leaving the rest of the body uncovered. The head, turned to the left, has an exuberant hairstyle, with long hair, loose on the shoulders and arranged in side strands knotted at the nape of the neck and held on the forehead by a band adorned with grape leaves and corymbs, from which hang heavy bunches of grapes. The support, consisting of a grapevine, preserves traces of the hind legs of the panther, an animal sacred to the god, whose face and front legs are also preserved: despite the partial preservation, it is possible to match the original torso to an image of Dionysus with a panther skin, as it has actually been restored. 

The nude youthful Dionysus is a recurring subject in Roman statuary, inspired by a Greek prototype – which cannot be identified with certainty –in the pose, enriching it with elements taken from the late-classical and Hellenistic formal and iconographic heritage; in this case the balance suggests a derivation from the post-Polysculptural Peloponnesian school, Lysippean in particular (Moreno, Viacava 2003, p. 206). Among the closest sculptures in terms of iconography are the Dionysus with nebris and cloak in the Capitoline Museums (inv. scu 628, Gasparri 1986, p. 436 n 102); the Dionysus at Holkham Hall (Gasparri 1986, p. 436 n 123b; Angelicoussis 2001, pp. 99-100, n 12, plates 24, 28-29); and the heavily restored statue in the Giustiniani collection (Buccino 2001, pp. 227-228, n 15).  The work therefore fits into a large group of Roman-era representations of the god of inebriation intended mainly to adorn open spaces and gardens.

The nuanced treatment of the nude and the rendering of the facial features allow the Borghese statue to be dated to the first half of the second century CE.

Jessica Clementi