Statuette of Narcissus, or Bacchus.
Giorgio Sommer & Son
Category
Art / Sculpture
Date
c. 1890 - 1910
Materials
Green-patinated bronze
Measurements
217 mm (Height); 88 mm (Diameter)
Place of origin
Naples
Order this imageCollection
Greys Court, Oxfordshire
NT 195758
Summary
Bronze; figure of Bacchus; Giorgio Sommer and Co., after a model by Vincenzo Gemito (1852-1929); c. 1890-1910. A small reproduction of a bronze figure of Bacchus (Dionysus), the Roman god of wine, discovered in Pompeii in 1862, and today in the Museo Nazionale Archaeologico in Naples. Long thought to be a figure of the youth Narcissus, he stands looking downwards, left foot forward, naked except for sandals and a small animal skin around left arm, his right hand raised in admonition. The statuette is fixed with two screws to a circular separately cast base, decorated with palmette pattern. The model was copied from the Roman original by the Neapolitan sculptor Vincenzo Gemito (1852-1929) and cast in the foundry of Giorgio Sommer, whose signature is on the base.
Provenance
Assigned to the National Trust from the Estate of Lady Elizabeth Brunner, 2022.
Marks and inscriptions
Top of base: 'G. Sommer Napoli' marked on top of base.
Makers and roles
Giorgio Sommer & Son , founder after Vincenzo Gemito (1852 - 1929), model maker previously catalogued as by Italian (Neapolitan) School, sculptor
References
G. Sommer & figlio, Catalogo di Bronzi e Terracotta, Naples c. 1890-1900, pp. 14-15, no. 140 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, 64, fig. 141