Artworks

See word document in NY Fair 2007

This is a very popular subject; Dionysos is often accompanied by pan and/or satyrs and maenads.

Provenance

William Lowther (1787–1872), 2nd Earl of Lonsdale, Lowther Castle, UK; acquired by at least 1865–1872
thence by descent and sold by Lancelot Edward Lowther (1867–1953), 6th Earl of Lonsdale, in 1947; Maple & Co. sale, 1947, "Major Part of the Earl of Lonsdale's Collection" (Penrith, 1947), lot 2350
Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, USA; acquired from Charles Ede in 2009, object number 2009.30

Literature

Compare Lexicon Iconographicum Mythologiae Classicae,Volume III/2, pl.308/124a.
E. Podmarski, Dionysische Gruppen, Osterreichischen Archaologischen Institute in Wien (Sonderschriften Band XIX, 1990) pl.69 for two examples in Rome, and pl.74 for an example in Leiden. It is sometimes unclear who is supporting whom, but Pl.79/2 shows a very drunken Dionysos leaning heavily on a satyr. The subject is popular in all media and types; relief from a marble sarcophagus ibid pl.55/2 (BM) , mosaic (Antakya) ibid. Pl.29/2 Showing crossed legs, Megarian pottery frag (Amsterdam AP Museum) pl.22/1. Bronze shows crossed legs more often (easier to manufacture??) cf. I.Manfridi-Aragno, Bacchus dans les Bronzes Hellenistiques et Romains (Lausanne, 1987), no.128.

Publications

Adolf Michaelis, Ancient Marbles in Great Britain, (Cambridge, 1882), no.63 where the statue was displayed in the West Gallery of Lowther Castle in 1873