Children's dance with the god Pan. Bronze. Following models by Lucas Faydherbe (1617-1697). Possibly 19th century. A bronze plaque with a figurative relief depicts a natural landscape with trees to the left and an overturned basket of flowers in the foreground. A group of naked children are arranged dancing, linked by their hands in clusters; the figures in the foreground are prominent, while those in the background are barely sketched, creating a sense of space. Towards the center of the scene, a male figure with horns and goat's legs, identified as Pan, son of Jupiter and the nymph Callisto, plays a flute. In classical mythology, Pan was associated with the wilderness. This god, especially venerated in Arcadia, is associated with shepherds and flocks and often appears in scenes linked to Bacchus (Dionysus). This work is closely inspired (note the initial F in the lower left corner, which, along with an L, also appears in the original; there are differences between the two) by a carved ivory relief in the Prado Museum in Madrid (catalog number E000257). It was owned by the painter Rubens and is the work of Lucas Faydherbe (Mechelen, Belgium, 1617 – Mechelen, Belgium, 1697), who worked as an assistant or pupil in Rubens's workshop four years before the latter's death. The terracotta sketch is held in the Royal Museums of Art and History in Brussels and shows slight variations from this Prado original. Note that the Royal Academy of Fine Arts of San Fernando in Madrid holds a plaster cast of the original work (Model from the Casting Workshop, inventory M-903), which features a capital F in the lower left corner, as in this bronze relief. Weight: 6350 grams.
· Size: 54,5x5,5x28 cms.
ANTIQUES
SCULPTURE
Ref.: ZF1510
