Two versions of Silenus "Buried by Vesuvius" at the Getty Villa through October 28, 2019

Two versions of Silenus "Buried by Vesuvius" at the Getty Villa through October 28, 2019. These two silens, aged companions of the wine god Bacchus, were part of a group of four displayed around the central pool of the Villa dei Papiri’s atrium. Water issued from the wineskin and the mouth of the panther. For the erudite owners of the villa and their cultured visitors, these statuettes may have brought to mind Greek poems describing fountain figures in the form of satyrs. One poem, attributed to Plato, reads: “A cunning master wrought me, the satyr, son of Bacchus, divinely inspiring the monolith with breath . . . Instead of purple wine I now pour forth pleasant water.” - J. Paul Getty Museum



Images: Silenus with a Wineskin found near the impluvium in the atrium of the Villa dei Papiri on December 18, 1754. Silenus with a Panther also found near the impluvium in the atrium on the same date. Both figurines are Roman bronze 1st century BCE - 1st century CE. Photographed at the Getty Villa in Pacific Palisades, California.

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