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Bacchanal: A Faun Teased by Children

and Pietro Bernini Italian
ca. 1616–17
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 534
The complex composition of intertwined figures, skillfully carved in the round from a narrow block, is the most ambitious marble made in partnership by Gian Lorenzo and Pietro Bernini. Based on ancient sarcophagi, this bacchic revel already shows Gian Lorenzo’s boldness in challenging antiquity. He tests the limits of sculpture and renders a host of motifs in different textures of marble: the supple children, one sticking out his tongue; the smooth, muscular tension of the toothless faun; and the tree’s bark and juicy fruits. This group was recorded in the inventory of Gian Lorenzo’s home at the time of his death.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Bacchanal: A Faun Teased by Children
  • Artist: Gian Lorenzo Bernini (Italian, Naples 1598–1680 Rome)
  • Artist: and Pietro Bernini (Italian, 1562–1629)
  • Date: ca. 1616–17
  • Culture: Italian, Rome
  • Medium: Marble
  • Dimensions: Overall (confirmed): 52 1/8 × 29 × 18 7/8 in., 529 lb. (132.4 × 73.7 × 47.9 cm, 240 kg)
  • Classification: Sculpture
  • Credit Line: Purchase, The Annenberg Fund Inc. Gift, Fletcher, Rogers, and Louis V. Bell Funds, and Gift of J. Pierpont Morgan, by exchange, 1976
  • Object Number: 1976.92
  • Curatorial Department: European Sculpture and Decorative Arts

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80. Bacchanal: A Faun Teased by Children

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Sketches for a Wall Tomb with Skeletons, Gian Lorenzo Bernini Italian, Pen and brown ink over traces of black chalk (recto); black chalk (verso)
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