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Ornamental mask - head of a satyr (recto)

Maker

(artist)
1499-1546

Title

Medium

graphite, pen and ink (brown), wash (brown) on laid paper, now laid down on Japanese tissue; a pen and brown ink sketch on the verso is hidden under the tissue

Dimensions

Height: 17 cm
Width: 15.4 cm

Accession Number

D.1952.RW.1395

Mode of Acquisition

Robert Clermont Witt, bequest, 1952

Credit

The Courtauld, London (Samuel Courtauld Trust)

Copyright

Work in the public domain

Location

Not currently on display

Keywords

foliate masks

Label Text

Probably intended to stand in a garden, this satyr’s head is one of a number of similar designs by Giulio Romano and his assistants in The Courtauld’s collection. As followers of the god Pan, the Roman protector of gardens, satyrs could be used in the decorative arts as playful allusions to the innate wildness both of nature, which was tamed in a garden, and of the human spirit. Such masks were also popular decorative elements in paintings.

Provenance

Colnaghi (London); purchased there by Sir Robert Witt, London (1872-1952), n.d. (£1.85); Witt Bequest 1952

Exhibition History

Special Display - Renaissance drawings, The Courtauld Gallery, London, 29/01/2009-20/05/2009

Decorative Arts of the Italian Renaissance 1400-1600, Detroit Institute of Art, Detroit, USA, 18/11/1958-04/01/1959

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