Grand Tour Bronze Dancing Faun of Pompeii

An exquisite 'Grand Tour' bronze figure of The Dancing Faun from Pompeii, after the original excavated at Pompeii in 1830, by the Sommer Foundry of Naples

Italy, second half of the 19th century

Superb quality, original patination.

Why we like it

Exquisitely sculpted for its miniature size, with beautiful patination. Coveted by the 19th century intellectuals and aesthetes, such exquisite objects were not mere decorations, but symbols of their owner's classical values and refined taste. 

Its completeness, small size, and the rarity of surviving bronzes made it a favourite subject for reproduction in the modest gardens and interiors of aspiring aesthetes. Another feature attractive to the refined tastes of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries was that the faun seemed to be joyous rather than drunk

History

The Dancing Faun was discovered on October 26, 1830 in the ruins of the most opulent Roman home discovered at Pompeii: the House of the Faun, as it later became known, which was also home to the Alexander Mosaic. The Faun is thought to be either a 2nd-century Greek original, or a very high-quality Roman copy. Now preserved at the Naples Archeological Museum.

The Sommer Foundry

Chiurazzi, De Angelis and Sommer where the main Neapolitan foundries that catered for the needs and tastes of the grand-tourists throughout the 19th and early 20th centuries. The latter was founded by by Giorgio Sommer, a well-known photographer and artisan of German origin. He founded his studio in Naples in 1857 and starting from the 1870s began the production of bronze and terracotta copies of ancient sculptures.