SculptureGraeco-Roman1st century BCE

Decorative Relief: Hermes and the Infant Dionysos

late 1st century BCE

Description

Hermes strides to the right, holding the infant Dionysos. Hermes wears a petosos (his three-cornered hat) and flowing chlamys. Dionysos is wrapped in a folded garment.

Classification

Sculpture

Technique

Carved

Medium

Marble

Culture

Graeco-Roman

Period

Hellenistic period, Late, to Early Roman Imperial

Century

1st century BCE

Division

Asian and Mediterranean Art

Department

Department of Ancient and Byzantine Art & Numismatics

Dimensions

68.8 x 46.8 x 7 cm (27 1/16 x 18 7/16 x 2 3/4 in.) 111 lb

Provenance

Albani Collection, Rome, (by 1808 to 1889(?)) [1]. [2] [Jeanette Brun, Skulpturen der Antike], Zurich, (by 1970), sold; to the Fogg Art Museum, 1970. [1] In 19th century references, this relief is published as present at two different Albani family properties, the Palazzo Albani (now the Palazzo Albani-Del Drago, 19 Via delle Quattro Fontane, Rome) and the Villa Albani (now the Villa Albani-Torlonia, 91 Via Salaria, Rome). In the first known reference, Zoega 1808, it is described at the Palazzo Albani; in 1811 and 1862, it is described as at the Villa Albani; and from 1882 to 1889, publications again refer to it as located at the Palazzo Albani. Whether the sources, not all of which entailed autopsy, are confused as to the location or whether the relief was moved between these properties is not immediately apparent. [2] Described as formerly in the Lanckoroński collection in Vermeule and Brauer (1990, p. 109, no. 95); the source of this attribution is unknown.