Fountain with Silenus in the Garden of the Cesi Palace near Rome
1581
Medium
Engraving in black on ivory laid paper
Dimensions
Image: 33.2 × 23.9 cm (13 1/8 × 9 7/16 in.); Plate: 35.1 × 23.9 cm (13 7/8 × 9 7/16 in.); Sheet: 54.1 × 42.5 cm (21 5/16 × 16 3/4 in.)
Classification
engraving
Department
Prints and Drawings
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
221703
Rights
Public Domain
About this artwork
A pupil of Cornelis Cort, Pieter Perret traveled to Rome in the 1580s, where he engraved this view of the garden of the Cesi Palace. The curious fountain depicted here has as a base the celebrated neo-Attic Torlonia Vase, which is still preserved in Rome. An ancient statue of Silenus, one of the god Bacchus’s inebriated followers, was added to the vase after 1550; thus Perret’s print documents a case of a hybrid artwork made from ancient sculpture and adapted to suit Renaissance tastes. Silenus ...