The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of December 1, 2023

Base for a Satyr and Satyress Group

early 1500s or later

Italy, possibly Padua, early 16th century or later

Bronze

Overall: 33.7 x 14.9 x 18.4 cm (13 1/4 x 5 7/8 x 7 1/4 in.)

John L. Severance Fund 1950.375

Location

not on view

Description

The pagan subject matter here was common in the 1500s and, with the pan pipes on the ground, indicates a scene of poetry and music. Long thought to be an ink stand, the two openings are now understood as possibly having housed a satyr and satyress.

Provenance
Monastery of Heiligenkreuz, Austria, sold to Ernö Wittmann
Dr. Ernö Wittmann (Budapest, Hungary), sold through R. Stora & Co. (New York, New York) to the Cleveland Museum of Art, 1950.
Citations
The Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art Handbook. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1958. Mentioned and Reproduced: cat. no. 239 archive.org
The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1966. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1966. Reproduced: p. 87 archive.org
The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1969. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1969. Reproduced: p. 87 archive.org
The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1978. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1978. Reproduced: p. 100 archive.org
Malgouyres, Philippe. De Filarete à Riccio: bronzes italiens de la Renaissance (1430-1550) : la collection du Musée du Louvre. 2020. Reproduced and mentioned; pp. 221-222, fig. 54
Exhibition history

Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL, (fall, 1943-1944): "15th and 16th c. Sculpture in Bronze and Wood, lent by Dr. Ernst Wittman," (no cat.)

Stadtische Galerie - Liebieghaus, West Germany, (Frankfurt) Dec 4, 1985 - March 2, 1986. cat. no. 167, repr.

Art and Humanism in the Renaissance. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (January 23-February 25, 1962).

Nature and Antiquity in the Italian Renaissance. Städtische Galerie Liebieghaus, Frankfurt am Main, Germany (organizer) (December 4, 1985-March 2, 1986).

Source URL: https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1950.375