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The Digital Sculpture Project

Pan-Nymph Group


Pan-Nymph, ca. 1894

Pan-Nymph, 2008

At the invitation of the Dresden State Museums, The Digital Sculpture Project digitized a statue group known as "Pan-Nymph" in 2008. The group was purchased in 1728 in Rome and sent to Dresden where it was displayed in the museum. In the 19C, it was correctly observed that the statue group consisted of ancient and modern elements. The ancient fragments came from several unrelated statues that were integrated into a single sculpture in the baroque period by an unknown restorer, who added modern pieces, where needed, to fill out the composition. In 1894, the "Satyr-Nymph" was disassembled and the 23 ancient and modern fragments were removed from public view. The purpose of our project was to digitally restore the group to its 18C appearance by scanning each fragment, creating a 3D model of it, and then combining the 23 digital fragments so that the group could be seen again as it appeared prior to disassembly. Here can be found:


Catalog Entry: Pan-Nymph Group

Name: Pan-Nymph Group

Collection: Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden

Inventory Number: H4 61/34

Date Created: Created from ancient individual elements integrated and supplemented in the late 17c or early 18c.

Date Acquired: Purchased in Rome in 1728 from the collection of Fabrizio Naro.

Sculptor: unknown

Material & Dimensions: In 1894 the baroque additions in marble were removed and the group was decomposed into the following ancient elements:

  1. Lower body of Pan sitting on a cliff came from the group of "Pan and Daphnis" (inv. Hm. 171). Marble. Height 83 cm; width 78.5 cm. Roman copy of ca. 130–150 CE based on a Hellenistic model dating to ca. 100 BCE.

  2. Female upper body from the group, "Invitation to the Dance" (inv. Hm. 184). Marble. Height 41.8 cm. Roman copy after a Hellenistic model dating to ca. 150 BCE.

  3. Upper body of a satyr from the group, "Invitation to the Dance" (inv. Hm 264). Marble. Height of the preserved part (without pins) 46 cm; width 24 cm (measured from the armpits). Roman copy after a Hellenistic model dating to ca. 150 BCE.

  4. Lower body of a sitting woman (inv. Hm 170). Marble. Height 48.5 cm. Width in the hip area 39 cm; depth 51.5 cm. Third quarter of the Ic BCE.

In 2009, the group was reassembled using the ancient elements and the baroque supplements. In the process, three fragments which were originally considered baroque were discovered to be ancient, viz.:

  1. Left arm of Pan with a strand of hair (fragment 19). Marble. Length (from the sleeve head to the elbow) 30 cm. Length of the lower arm (external side of the index finger to the elbow) 34 cm.

  2. Right lower arm of Pan with grapes (fragment 21). Marble. Length 34 cm; width (back of the hand) 8.7 cm. Roman. First half of the IIc CE.

  3. Relief fragment with tendrils, used and reworked in the baroque period (fragment 10). Marble. Height 19 cm (with leaves); length 65.5 cm; width 27.2 cm. Roman.

Height of the whole group: 161 cm. Height up to Pan's head: 136 cm; width 93 cm; depth 66 cm. Size of plinth: 64 x 59 cm.

Description: Goat-legged Pan sits on a cliff with his left leg crossed over his right and turns to a nymph sitting next to him, whom he playfully harasses. He tempts her with with a bunch of grapes in his upraised right hand and with his left hand he grabs her hair in order to pull her to himself. The nymph, with syrinx and tambourine in her hands and laughing saucily, escapes Pan's annoying behavior by attempting to turn away with a slight rotation of her upper body.

The group was forcibly pieced together in Rome (presumably in the early 18c) from a rich deposit of individual ancient elements. Missing pieces were made and added as needed when the recomposition was in progress. These additions include the head and neck of Pan and the nymph, the arms of the nymph and her knees, the right upper arm of Pan, his left knee and his lower legs as well as the base. For the latter an ancient relief was used. In this way a new ancient-baroque hybrid was created. That the result was of dubious value was something noted in the Dresden museum catalogues as early as the beginning of the 19c. In 1894 the group was disassembled, which proved that the work consisted of parts of wholly unrelated ancient statues, including two famous late-Hellenistic statue groups: the so-called "Invitation to the Dance" and the "Pan and Daphnis."

Granting that the disassembling of this curious construction was justified with regard to recuperation of the ancient originals, nevertheless in doing so we lost an attractive and interesting document of the baroque understanding of antiquity and its practice of restoration. Through a restoration recently started in 2009, the group could regain its baroque design.

A virtual model of the group makes it possible for the museum visitor to gain an overview of the ancient and baroque elements of the group and to understand how both the baroque and modern restorations were carried out. Moreover it is also possible for the visitor to grasp the relationship of the ancient fragments of the Roman copies to their Hellenistic models.

Selected Bibliography:

  • Plat, Raymond. Recueil des marbres antiquites qui se trouvent dans la galerie du Roy de Pologne a Dresden (Dresden, 1733) fig. 082.
  • Lipsius, Johann Gottfried. Beschreibung der Chürfürstlichen Antiken-Galerie in Dresden, zum Theil nach hinterlassenen Papieren Herrn Johann Friedrich Wacker's ehemaligen Inspector's dieser Galerie (Dresden, 1798) 208 Nr. 5.
  • Hase, Heinrich. Verzeichnis der alten und neuen Bildwerke und übrigen Alterthümer in den Sälen der Königlichen Antikensammlung zu Dresden. Fifth edition (Dresden, 1839) 56 Nr. 169.
  • Hettner, Hermann. Die Bildwerke der Königlichen Antikensammlung zu Dresden. Fourth edition (Dresden, 1881) 61 Nr. 34.
  • Knoll, Kordelia, in: Das Albertinum vor 100 Jahren: Die Skulpturensammlung Georg Treus, Ausstellungskatalog Dresden Skulpturensammlung, (Dresden, 1994) 131–142, fig. 130.
  • B. Cacciotti, La collezione di antichità del Cardinale Flavio Chigi (Rome, 2004) 63n 109.
  • B. Cacciotti. "Kunsthändler, Antiquare und Antikensammler in Rom zwischen 1700 und 1733," in Schröder, Stephan F., editor. Verwandelte Götter: Antike Skulpturen des Museo del Prado zu Gast in Dresden. Ausstellungskatalog Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden, Museo Nacional del Prado Madrid (Cologne, 2009) 96–105, 103 fig. 72.

For the group, "Invitation to the Dance":

  • Geominy, Wilfred. "Zur Komposition der Gruppe ‘Aufforderung zum Tanz,’” in Hellenistische Gruppen, Gedenkschrift für Andreas Linfert (Mainz, 1999) 141–155 (with additional bibliography).

For the group, "Pan and Daphnis":

  • Leibundgut, Annalis. "Von der 'Lüsternheit des Auges.' Gedanken zu den Gruppen Pan-Daphnis und 'Leda ignuda' im Antiquarium des Kardinals Federico Cesi in Rom," in Hellenistische Gruppen, Gedenkschrift für Andreas Linfert (Mainz, 1999) 365–425 (with additional bibliography).

[Catalogue entry by Kordelia Knoll]

Fragments:

Each of the 23 pieces of the sculpture group was individually digitized (3D scanned and photographed). The fragments are listed on the table below:

ID
number
Description Period Photograph
1 Nymph's left knee Modern
2 Nymph's right knee Modern
3 Pan's left hoof Modern
4 Pan's lower right leg Modern
5 Nymph's head Modern
6 Pan's right elbow Modern
7 Nymph's left hand Modern
8 Nymph's tambourine Modern
9 Nymph's tambourine Modern
10 Base under feet Modern
11 Pan's upper right arm Modern
12 Nymph's lower right arm; Pan's pipes Modern
13 Nymph's lower torso and feet Ancient
14 Nymph's torso Ancient
15 Pan's torso and upper left leg Both
16 Pan's pelvis and seat Ancient
17 Pan's head Modern
18 Pan's upper left arm Modern
19 Pan's lower left arm Ancient
20 Pan's left knee Modern
21 Pan's right lower arm/hand Ancient
22 Pan's lower left arm (fragment) Modern
23 Pan's lower left arm (fragment) Modern

3D Model (18c state):

Click the image to view the 3D model (2,000,000 polygons). For help, click here.


Copyright © 2009-10. Last updated: June 1, 2010.

The Digital Sculpture Project is an activity of the Virtual World Heritage Laboratory.