Head of Dionysus

Luigi Valadier

1783 · Bust: red griotte marble; eyes: inlaid with white marble with black marble pupils; base: fleur-de-pêcher marble · European Sculpture and Decorative Arts

Formerly considered an adaptation from the first half of XIX century of a classical bronze sculpture in the Museo Nazionale, Naples). Now believed to have been inspired by an antique term such as those incorporated by Piranesi into his design for the marble chimneypiece that was executed for the 9th Earl of Exeter, Burghley house, Northamptonshire. The bust was probably executed by the same Italian workshop that produced the Burghley House chimneypiece in the years before 1769.

Artist

Luigi Valadier

Date

1783

Medium

Bust: red griotte marble; eyes: inlaid with white marble with black marble pupils; base: fleur-de-pêcher marble

Culture

Italian

Department

European Sculpture and Decorative Arts

Credit line

Gift of J. Pierpont Morgan, 1917