Italian school. Grand Tour, XIX century.

Italian school. Grand Tour, XIX century.
"Narcissus of Pompeii".
In gilded bronze.
Marble pedestal.
Measurements: 34 cm.; 3,5 cm. pedestal.

Sculpture in gilded bronze. Quality reproduction of a famous Roman sculpture representing Dionysus. Found in the excavations of 1862 in Pompeii, it is now in the National Archaeological Museum of Naples. The classical original showed the god of wine playing with an invisible panther. In the 19th century it began to be called "Narcissus" because it was erroneously interpreted as a young man gazing at his reflection in the water. The nineteenth century versions, like the one shown here, show the addition of a fig leaf covering the genitals.

The term "Grand Tour", which first appeared in Richard Lassels' "The Voyage d'Italie", was used to define the long journey through Europe, especially Italy, that young British aristocrats usually made from the seventeenth century onwards, but especially throughout the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. The purpose of the trip was for young people to become acquainted with the art and culture of France and Italy, to admire classical art at first hand, to learn or improve their knowledge of languages, and to establish contacts and relationships with the cultural and political elites of these countries. Travelers were often looking for pieces with which to start their own art collections, objects to take back to their places of residence as souvenirs. For this reason, workshops specialized in the replica of Roman pieces, both in bronze and marble, emerged, some of which acquired a great reputation.