Restoration error, 18th century style? 11/17/2008
Ever noticed the impressive, large Bacchus and Ariadne that Elinor Penna is selling? Would you believe that this masterpiece owes its existence to a restoration error? No, the error is not in Elinor’s figure, which is correct. The problem began centuries ago. 
Elinor’s Bacchus and Ariadne is modeled after a Graeco-Roman marble of Priapos and a Maenad. This marble had lost both figures’ heads and most limbs when it came to Britain from Rome circa 1770. Today we can confirm its identity as Priapos and a Maenad: a Graeco-Roman marble in Athens has Priapos’s head intact, and a group in Berlin preserves the maenad’s head.[i] But around 1770, something went very wrong. Faced with a headless, limbless trunk, an English restorer used his own initiative. He restored the marble incorrectly to resemble Dionysos (also known as Bacchus) and Ariadne —possibly he used a 4th century BCE bronze relief in the British Museum for "inspiration." The transformed marble was imitated as a smaller plaster and in bronze, which were in turn mimicked in pottery, giving rise to the pottery figure now known as Bacchus and Ariadne. [ii] CommentsLeave a Reply |  BUY MY BOOK!
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