Art Institute of Chicago

Statuary Group of Three Satyrs Fighting a Serpent

Roman

Date

about 1st century CE

Medium

Marble

Department

Arts of Greece, Rome, and Byzantium

Institution

Art Institute of Chicago

In 1488, an artwork matching the description of this small, powerful sculptural group was discovered in Rome and likely sold to Lorenzo de’ Medici (1449–1492). It depicts a slithering serpent ensnaring and squeezing the life out of three hapless satyrs. One of them collapses, almost expired; the other two writhe in agonizing death throes. In a bold and dynamic composition, the two kneeling creatures lean away from, but twist toward, one another. The diagonal lines created by the kneeling satyrs converge at their companion, whose fallen body extends the full width of the base. The Renaissance artists Antonio Pollaiuolo (1433–1498) and Michelangelo Buonarotti (1475–1564) may have studied the group and incorporated elements of it into their own compositions.

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