Detail View: The AMICA Library: Satyr

AMICA ID: 
MMA_.1982.45
AMICA Library Year: 
2000
Object Type: 
Sculpture
Creator Name: 
Riccio, Andrea Briosco
Creator Role: 
Sculptor
Creator Dates/Places: 
1470-1532
Creator Name-CRT: 
Il Riccio (Andrea Briosco)
Title: 
Statuette
Title Type: 
Object name
Title: 
Satyr
View: 
Full View
Creation Date: 
16th century (ca. 1506-08)
Creation Start Date: 
1506
Creation End Date: 
1508
Materials and Techniques: 
Bronze
Classification Term: 
Sculpture-Bronze
Dimensions: 
H. 14 1/8 in. (35.9 cm)
AMICA Contributor: 
The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Owner Location: 
New York, New York, USA
ID Number: 
1982.45
Credit Line: 
Purchase, Gifts of Irwin Untermyer, Ogden Mills and George Blumenthal, Bequest of Julia H. Manges and Frederick C. Hewitt Fund, by exchange; and Rogers and Pfeiffer Funds, 1982
Rights: 
Context: 

This striding satyr, with its curvilinear contours and masterly control of chasing, was executed about 1507, at the height of Riccio's powers. He had probably just completed his pair of Old Testament bronze reliefs for Sant'Antonio in Padua and had embarked on the model for what was to be his greatest work, the bronze paschal candlestick in the same church. The elaborate decorations on the candlestick include satyrs among the many nearly freestanding statuettes.

The highly activated surfaces of the bronzes for which he was famed reflect Riccio's training as a goldsmith. His poignant renderings of satyrs, half-human and half-animal, were especially popular among the humanist collectors of the early Renaissance, who may have seen them as emblematic of the Neoplatonic notion of the spirit trapped in flesh.

Related Image Identifier Link: 
MMA_.es1982.45.R.tif