A Satyr

1544/1545

Benvenuto Cellini

Artist, Florentine, 1500 - 1571

A muscular man stands with one hand on a walking stick and the other braced on the underside of a stone block above his head in this full-length, vertical drawing. The man’s body faces our left in profile, but he turns his face to look up and off to the right. Short, curling horns nestle among his curly hair, and he has a curly goatee. He has a furry brow, like a goat, a flattened nose, and drooping eyes. His lips are parted, and his top eye teeth and bottom middle teeth show. His right hand, to our left, reaches up to the stone overhead. He holds his other arm across his body to brace that hand on a waist-high staff. He stands with his weight on his left foot, closer to us, and his other ankle crosses in front so the balls of that foot rest on the ground. A rectangular frame is drawn with brown ink, and the corners are shaded sage green. More drawn frames suggest stepped molding within a frosty green band. Cursive text in the lower right corner reads, “alla porta di fontana Bellio di bronzo p piu di dua volte il vivo b 7 erano dua variati.”

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Artwork overview

  • Medium

    pen and brown ink with brown wash over black chalk on laid paper; laid down, with framing line in brown ink

  • Credit Line

    Woodner Collection, Patrons' Permanent Fund

  • Dimensions

    overall: 41.6 x 20.3 cm (16 3/8 x 8 in.)

  • Accession

    1991.190.2

Artwork history & notes

Provenance

John Barnard [d. 1784] (Lugt 1419), London; Samuel Woodburn (1786-1853); Sir Thomas Lawrence [1769-1830] (Lugt 2445), London; Samuel Woodburn. Hans M. Calmann [1899-1982], London; (William H. Schab Gallery, New York); purchased by Ian Woodner, New York, 1 September 1959; by inheritance to his daughters, Andrea and Dian Woodner, New York, 1990; gift to NGA, 1991.

Associated Names

Exhibition History

1960

  • Old Master Drawings, The Newark Museum, Newark, NJ, 1960, no. 25, repro.

1965

  • Drawings from New York Collections I: The Italian Renaissance, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1965-66, no. 82.

1970

  • The Age of Vasari, University Art Gallery, Notre Dame and University Art Gallery, State University of New York, Binghampton, 1970, no. D7.

1971

  • Woodner Collection I: A Selection of Old Master Drawings before 1700, William H. Schab Gallery, New York and tour, 1971-72, no. 14.

1972

  • L'École de Fontainebleau, Grand Palais, Paris, 1972, no. 51.

1973

  • Fontainebleau: Art in France 1528-1610. National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, 1973, no. 51, pl. 67.

1976

  • Old Master Drawings from American Collections. Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, 1976, no. 26.

1983

  • Master Drawings from the Woodner Collection, J. Paul Getty Museum, Malibu and tour, 1983-85, no. 18.

1986

  • Dibujos de los siglos XIV al XX: Colección Woodner, Museo del Prado, Madrid, 1986-87, no. 28.

  • Meisterzeichnungen aus Sechs Jahrhunderten: Die Sammlung Ian Woodner, Haus der Kunst, Munich and Vienna, 1986, no. 23.

1987

  • Master Drawings: The Woodner Collection, Royal Academy of Arts, London, 1987, no. 20.

1990

  • Master Drawings from the Woodner Collection, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1990, no. 26.

1995

  • The Touch of the Artist: Master Drawings from the Woodner Collections, National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1995-1996, no. 47.

2000

  • Art for the Nation: Collecting for a New Century, National Gallery of Art, Washington, 2000-2001, 152.

2005

  • Leonardo Da Vinci, Michelangelo, and the Renaissance in Florence, National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, 2005, no. 102.

2006

  • Master Drawings from the Woodner Collections, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 2006 - 2007.

2009

  • Renaissance to Revolution: French Drawings from the National Gallery of Art, 1500-1800. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 2009, 24-25, 274, no. 3 (color).

2014

  • Donatello, Michelangelo, Cellini: Sculptors' Drawings from Renaissance Italy, Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston, 2014-2015, 20, 58, 194-196, no. 26 (color) (entry by Claudia Kryza-Gersch).

2017

  • The Woodner Collections: Master Drawings from Seven Centuries, NGA, 2017.

Bibliography

n.d.

  • Ward, Roger. "Master Drawings from the Woodner Collection, Washington, D.C." The Burlington Magazine 126, no. 973 (April 1984): 252 (under no. 18).

1966

  • Heikamp, Detlef. "In margine alla 'Vita di Baccio Bandinelli' del Vasari." Paragone 191 (1966): 53.

  • Vitzhum, Walter. "Drawings from New York Collections." The Burlington Magazine CVIII (1966): 110, fig. 58.

1968

  • Hayward, J.F. "A Newly Discovered Bronze Modello by Benvenuto Cellini." Art at Auction: The Year at Sotheby's & Parke-Bernet. London, 1968: 264.

  • Winner, Matthias. "Federskizzen von Benvenuto Cellini." Zeitschrift für Kunstgeschichte XXXI, no. 4 (1968): 294-297.

1969

  • Parronchi, Alessandro. "Une tête de satyre de Cellini." Revue de l'Art 5 (1969): 43, fig. 10.

1972

  • Lyons, Leonard. "The Lyons Den." New York Post (March 27, 1972): 31.

1973

  • Woodner Collection II Old Master Drawings from the XV to the XVIII Century. Exh. cat. William H. Schab Gallery Inc., New York, 1973, "Additions and Corrections to Woodner Collection I," no. 14.

1976

  • Bush, Virginia. Colossal Sculpture of the Cinquecento. New York, 1976: 265-66, fig. 279.

1977

  • Perrig, Alexander. Die "Michelangelo"-Zeichnungen Benvenutos Cellinis. Frankfurt, 1977, 81, pl. 56.

  • de Gaigneron, Axelle. "Ian Woodner, amateur américain de réputation mondiale, commente quelques oeuvres majeures de sa collection." Connaissance des Arts, no. 310 (December 1977): 101-103 (repro).

1981

  • Avery, Charles and Susanna Barbaglia. L'Opera completa del Cellini. Milan, 1981: 90, no. 33, pl. 12.

1982

  • Pope-Hennessy, John. "A Bronze Satyr by Cellini." The Burlington Magazine CXXIV (1982): 409-411, fig. 14.

1983

  • The Autobiography of Benvenuto Cellini. Ed. Charles Hope and Alessandro Nova. Oxford, 1983: 131, pl. 64.

  • Matteson, Lynn R. "Old Master Drawings from the Woodner Collection." Pantheon. XLI (1983): 386 (reproduced).

1985

  • Pope-Hennessy, John. Cellini. New York, 1985: 135-136, pls. 70, 71.

1986

  • Avery, Charles. "The Pope's Goldsmith." Apollo 124 (July 1986): 62.

1987

  • Gardner, Paul. "The Old Master," Art News 86, no. 7 (September 1987):122, repro. 123.

  • Melikian, Souren. "A Master Collector, Ian Woodner: An Eye for the Future." Art & Auction 10, no. 4 (November 1987): 83, repro. p. 85.

1988

  • Cummings, Paul. "Interview: Ian Woodner Talks with Paul Cummings." Drawing. IX, no. 5 (January-February 1988): 107, repro.

  • Radcliffe, Anthony. Review of John Pope-Hennessy, Cellini, 1985. Burlington Magazine 130, no. 1029 (December 1988): 930.

1992

  • Poeschke, Joachim. Die Skulptur der Renaissance in Italien. Band 2, Michelangelo und seine Zeit. Munich, 1992: 210, under no. 222, repro. 211, Abb. 115.

  • National Gallery of Art, Washington. Washington, D.C., 1992: 318, repro.

1995

  • Ekserdjian, David. "A Drawing by Denvenuto Cellini," Christie's International Magazine (June-July 1995), 45.

  • Grasselli, Margaret Morgan. "The Touch of the Artist: Master Drawings from the Woodner Collections." Exh. brochure, unpaginated (repr.)

  • Scalini, Mario. Benvenuto Cellini. Antella, 1995: 21, fig. 44.

  • Jones, Jennifer. "The Woodner Collections at the National Gallery of Art." Drawing 17, no. 3 (September-October 1995): 50 (repr. fig. 2).

  • Annesley, Noël. "Ian Woodner." Drawing 17, no. 3 (September-October 1995): 54.

1996

  • Poescke, Joachim. Michelangelo and His World, Sculpture of the Italian Renaissance. New York, 1996: 211, fig. 115 (trans. of 1992 German edition).

  • Nova, Alessandro. "Benvenuto Cellini." In The Dictionary of Art. Edited by Jane Turner. 34 vols. New York and London, 1996: 6:141-142.

1997

  • Güse, Ernst-Gerhard, and Alexander Perrig, eds. Zeichnungen aus der Toskana: Das Zeitalter Michelangelos. Exh. cat. Saarland Museum, Saarbrücken. Munich and New York, 1997: 15, 20, fig. 23, 27 n. 84, 150, fig. 2 (detail), 152, 301 n. 3.

1998

  • Avery, Charles. "Drawing in the Work of Italian Renaissance Sculptors." Drawing 19, no. 4 (Summer 1998): 113, fig. 1, 116.

2002

  • Fogelman, Peggy, Peter Fusco, and Marietta Cambareri. Italian and SPanish Sculpture: Catalogue of the J. Paul Getty Museum Collection. Los Angeles, 2002: 40.

2003

  • Bliss, Joseph R. "Benvenuto Cellini's Satyrs for the Porte Dorée at Fontainebleau." In Large Bronzes in the Renaissance. Studies in the History of Art. Edited by P. Motture. Washington, 2003: 77-79, 81, 88, fig. 4.

  • Marsden, Jonathan, and Jane Bassett. "Cellini's Other Satyr for the Porte Dorée at Fontainebleau." Burlington Magazine 145, no. 1205 (August 2003): 552, 555, 557, 559.

  • Jestaz, Bertrand. "Benvenuto Cellini et la Cour de France (1540-1545)." In Art et artistes en France de la Renaissance à la Révolution. Bibliothèque de l'École des chartes_ 161, edited by Bertrand Jestaz. Paris and Geneva, 2003: 107, 116, fig. 11.

  • Fogelman, Peggy, and Peter Fusco, with Marietta Cambareri. Italian and Spanish Sculpture. Catalogue of the J. Paul Getty Museum Collection. Los Angeles, 2003: 40.

Inscriptions

lower right in brown ink: alla porta di fontana / Bellio di bronzo p[er] piu / di dua volte il vivo b[raccie] 7 / erano dua variati.

Wikidata ID

Q64537269

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