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Description
7” high, jesmonite resin, finished a few years ago. More technically a satyr I think because it has human legs, but the original seems to be generally referred to as a faun; I left out the tail because as a torso there was no need for it. From what remains on the original it looks like the tail was flicking up in the air as though the figure was in motion, and more complete examples suggest it might have been part of a well known group called The Invitation to the Dance, in which the satyr, holding a pair of cymbals, tries to entice a nymph into dancing. However the original marble shows something broken off the chest high on his right hand side which doesn’t fit with the usual pattern for this group, so there’s no telling what he might have been doing.

I really hope to have a go at carving this in marble at some point. I did wonder whether it’s acceptable to make and sell versions of sculptures by past masters, and a former tutor once said of my attempt at the torso of Michelangelo’s David that “most people would just leave it alone”, as though it was an act of hubris, but personally I don’t think it differs from a musician selling a performance of a piece of music by a great composer. I’m not claiming it as my own design, it’s specifically described as a study piece so I don’t see why anyone should object.

Description
7” high, jesmonite resin, finished a few years ago. More technically a satyr I think because it has human legs, but the original seems to be generally referred to as a faun; I left out the tail because as a torso there was no need for it. From what remains on the original it looks like the tail was flicking up in the air as though the figure was in motion, and more complete examples suggest it might have been part of a well known group called The Invitation to the Dance, in which the satyr, holding a pair of cymbals, tries to entice a nymph into dancing. However the original marble shows something broken off the chest high on his right hand side which doesn’t fit with the usual pattern for this group, so there’s no telling what he might have been doing.

I really hope to have a go at carving this in marble at some point. I did wonder whether it’s acceptable to make and sell versions of sculptures by past masters, and a former tutor once said of my attempt at the torso of Michelangelo’s David that “most people would just leave it alone”, as though it was an act of hubris, but personally I don’t think it differs from a musician selling a performance of a piece of music by a great composer. I’m not claiming it as my own design, it’s specifically described as a study piece so I don’t see why anyone should object.