The Piping Faun (The Faun with Pipes)
workshop of John Nost II (d. London 1729)
Category
Art / Sculpture
Date
1729
Materials
Lead
Measurements
1530 mm High
Order this imageCollection
Powis Castle and Garden, Powys
NT 1180992
Summary
Lead sculpture, The Piping Faun (The Faun with Pipes), workshop of John Nost II (d. London 1729). A life-size lead figure of The Piping Faun, probably from the workshop of John Van Nost (d.1729); a standing figure raising a flute to his lips, with a cloak and animal mask draped over his raised arm. Right hip against a stone pier, and standing on a stone plinth (Grinshall sandstone base cut to size of the old one in 1991). Thought to be an 18th century interpretation (not an exact copy) of the antique 'Faun with Pipes' in the Louvre, Paris originally from the Villa Borghese, Rome, from 1638 to 27th September 1807 when it was purchased by Napolean Bonaparte from his brother-in-law Prince Camillo Borghese and sent to th Louvre by 1815. Stolen 27/28.2.1992; returned 1997. Damaged by vandals in 11.12.2003.
Provenance
Amongst the sculpture within the grounds of Powis Castle and Gardens and part of the original bequest of the property in 1952.
Makers and roles
workshop of John Nost II (d. London 1729), sculptor
References
Haskell and Penny 1981: Francis Haskell and Nicholas Penny, Taste and the Antique, The Lure of Classical Sculpture 1500 - 1900, New Haven and London, 1981, 38