View source for Dancing Satyr of Mazara del Vallo

{{Short description|Greek bronze statue}}
{{Infobox artefact
| image = Satiro danzante.jpg
| created =
| material = [[Bronze]]
| height = 2.4 meters (original) <br>
2 meters
| discovered_date = 4 March 1998
| discovered_place = [[Mediterranean Sea]]
| location = [[Mazara del Vallo]], [[Sicily]], [[Italy]]
}}
The '''''Dancing Satyr'' of Mazara del Vallo''' is a fragmentary over-lifesize ancient Greek [[bronze]] [[statue]], of [[Magna Graecia]] whose refinement and ''rapprochement'' with the manner of [[Praxiteles]] has made it a subject of discussion. It is an example of a dancing satyr, a sculptural archetype in [[Hellenistic art|Hellenistic]] and [[Roman art]].{{cn|date=September 2019}} Another well-known example is the Faun from the [[House of the Faun]], [[Pompeii]].
In its present state it is 2 meters high (6&nbsp;ft 6&nbsp;in); originally it would have been about 2.4 meters (7&nbsp;ft 10&nbsp;in).<ref> Martinez (2007), p.284.</ref>
It was recovered from the sea floor off [[Sicily]] in 1998, and is now on display in the church of Sant'Egidio, [[Mazara del Vallo]], Sicily.  Though some have dated it to the 4th century BCE and said it was an original work by [[Praxiteles]] or a faithful copy,<ref>Paolo Moreno (2003).</ref> it is more securely dated either to the [[Hellenistic]] period of the 3rd and 2nd centuries BCE, or possibly to the [[Neo-Attic|Roman "Atticising" phase]] in the early 2nd century CE.
==Style and details==
Though the satyr is missing both arms, one leg, and its separately-cast tail (originally fixed in a surviving hole at the base of the spine), its head and torso are remarkably well-preserved despite two millennia spent at the bottom of the sea. The satyr is depicted in mid-leap, head thrown back ecstatically and back arched, his hair swinging with the movement of his head. The facture is highly refined; the whites of his eyes are alabaster inlays.
A high percentage of lead in the bronze alloy suggests its being made in [[Rome]] itself.
==Rediscovery and display==
[[File:Dancing Satyr 1.jpg|right|thumb|The Dancing Satyr soon after its recovery, 1998]]
The torso was recovered from the sandy sea floor at a depth of {{convert|500|m|ft}} off the southwestern coast of Sicily, on the night of March 4, 1998, in the nets of the same fishing boat (operating from [[Mazara del Vallo]], hence the sculpture's name) that had in the previous year recovered the sculpture's left leg.
Other well-known underwater finds of Greek bronzes have been retrieved from the [[Aegean Sea|Aegean]] and [[Mediterranean Sea|Mediterranean]] seas, generally from [[shipwreck]] sites: the [[Antikythera mechanism]], the ''[[Antikythera Ephebe]]'' and the portrait head of a [[Stoicism|Stoic]] discovered by sponge-divers at Antikythera in 1900, the [[Mahdia shipwreck]] off the coast of Tunisia, 1907; the ''[[Marathon Boy]]'' off the coast of Marathon, 1925; the standing ''[[Poseidon of Cape Artemision]]'' found off Cape Artemision in northern Euboea, 1926; the ''horse'' and ''Rider'' found off Cape Artemision, 1928 and 1937; the ''[[Getty Victorious Youth]]'' found off [[Fano]] on the [[Adriatic Sea|Adriatic coast]] of Italy; the [[Riace bronzes]], found in 1972; and the ''[[Apoxyomenos]]''  recovered from the sea off the [[Croatia]]n island of [[Lošinj]] in 1999.
Restoration at the [[Istituto Centrale per il Restauro]], Rome, included a steel armature so that the statue can be displayed upright. When first displayed to the public after conservation (in the [[Chamber of Deputies]] in Rome, from 31 March to 2 June 2003), it was hailed as the finest new discovery in Italian waters since the Riace bronzes were found in 1972. On 12 July 2003 it returned to Mazara del Vallo, where it is on permanent display in the ''Museo del Satiro'' in the church of Sant'Egidio.  There, it is provided with an [[Seismic retrofit|anti-seismic]] base, to secure it against tremors in this earthquake zone.  From 23 March to 28 June 2007 it toured to the [[Louvre]] for their Praxiteles exhibition, and an associated Louvre interactive installation, "Connaître la forme" ("Know your form"), displayed a replica of it lit in various ways to demonstrate the importance of lighting in displaying a sculpture.
==See also==
*[[Hellenistic Greece]]
==Notes==
<references/>
==References==
* {{in lang|fr}} ''Praxitèle'', catalogue of the exhibition at the Louvre Museum, 23 March-28 June 2007, Louvre editions & Somogy, 2007 (978-2-35031-111-1)
** [[Alain Pasquier]], "Praxitèle aujourd'hui ? La question des originaux", pp.&nbsp;86–88,
** Jean-Luc Martinez, "Les Satyres de Praxitèle", cat.&nbsp;72, pp.&nbsp;284–291.
* {{in lang|it}} Paolo Moreno, "Satiro di Prassitele", ''Il Satiro danzante. Camera dei Deputati, 1 aprile–2 giugno 2003'', exhibition catalogue Milan, 2003, pp.&nbsp;102–113.
* {{in lang|it}} Roberto Petriaggi (dir.), ''Il Satiro Danzante di Mazara del Vallo, il Restauro e l'Immagine'', proceedings of the conference held at the Istituto Centrale per il Restauro, Rome, June 3–4, 2003, Electa, Naples, 2005.
* {{in lang|it}} Claudio Parisi Presicce, "Il Satiro Mainomenos di Mazara del Vallo: un Possibile Contesto Originario", ''Sicilia Archaeologica'' '''36''' (2003), pp.&nbsp;25–40.
== External links ==
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20070311131918/http://www.uciim.sicilia.it/SATIRO/satiro.htm Il Satiro a Mazara del Vallo] (Italian)
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20060828221518/http://www.ancientworlds.net/aw/Article/740225 "The Dancing Satyr— A lost bronze by Praxiteles?]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20060717130528/http://www.icr.beniculturali.it/indexj.html Central Restoration Institute - English version]
* [http://www.ekathimerini.com/4dcgi/_w_articles_politics_100016_02/04/2003_28128 An article in English about the Dancing Satyr]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20070311131726/http://www.uciim.sicilia.it/englishmazara.htm About Mazara del Vallo and the Dancing Satyr]
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Dancing Satyr Of Mazara Del Vallo}}
[[Category:3rd-century BC Greek sculptures]]
[[Category:2nd-century BC Greek sculptures]]
[[Category:2nd-century Roman sculptures]]
[[Category:1998 archaeological discoveries]]
[[Category:Archaeological discoveries in Italy]]
[[Category:Hellenistic and Roman bronzes]]
[[Category:Mazara del Vallo]]
[[Category:Art of Magna Graecia]]
[[Category:Nude sculptures]]
[[Category:Sculptures of satyrs]]