The Farnese Bull (The Fable of Dirce) (after Antonio Susini)
Italian School
Category
Art / Sculpture
Date
1600 - 1699
Materials
Bronze
Measurements
523 x 410 x 400 mm
Order this imageCollection
Felbrigg, Norfolk
NT 1399475
Summary
A bronze sculpture group depicting the Farnese Bull (The Fable of Dirce) (after Antonio Susini). It is after a bronze reduction by Antonio Susini (fl. 1580-1624). The original antique sculpture was found in the Baths of Caracalla in 1545 and it is now in the Museum Nazionale, Naples.The story of Dirce, second wife of King Lycus of Thebes, tells that she was tied to a wild bull by her stepsons for her previous treatment of their mother. The bull and five figures are shown on a rocky base, with a frieze of animals around the base.
Provenance
Part of the Windham Collection. The hall and contents were bequeathed to the National Trust in 1969 by Robert Wyndham Ketton-Cremer (1906-1969)
Makers and roles
Italian School, sculptor after Antonio Susini (fl.Florence 1572 – d.Florence 1624), 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, 15