Satyress
Can I see it?
Yes, on view now
Where is “Satyress” now? The Cleveland Museum of Art, 117A Italian Renaissance, Cleveland. Yes, on view now. Checked September 29, 2026.
On public display.
- Checked
- In this state since
- Source
- The museum
About the sculpture
In antiquity, satyrs were lustful woodland deities who delighted in wine and revelry. Renaissance artists adopted them as symbols of vice and carnal love; the female satyr, or satyress, on this bronze plaquette, recently reattributed from Riccio to Mosca, was probably derived from a copper engraving of a Roman sarcophagus by Marcantonio Raimondi (c. 1470/82-1527/34). Both the sarcophagus and subsequent engraving depicted a bacchanalia, or scene of orgiastic carousal; the peculiar objects surrounding the satyress have been added by the artist, possibly in an effort to remove the figure from her lewd original composition and give a more refined meaning. The satyress rests her right hoof upon a plumed helmet. A coiled shape, possibly a snake, winds out of the helmet. To her left, a laurel tree stands with only half of its branches in bloom.
Read on
Two severed animal legs are tied around its trunk and an illegible plaque hangs from one of its branches. A lyre, a pan pipe, an animal jawbone and a bow are gathered at the base of the tree. The highly allegorical nature of the work uses obscure symbols, rather than a distinct narrative, to convey meaning and could possibly be read as an allegory of physical pleasure overcoming virtue.
The Cleveland Museum of Art
Details
- Accession number
- 1947.29
In the catalog
Sources
- The Cleveland Museum of Art
- Image: The Cleveland Museum of Art — Museum open access
In the life of Giovanni Maria Mosca
The whole life1515–1530 · Workplace
Padua
1515–1530 · Workplace
Venice
1530–1553 · Workplace
Kraków
