Silenus as an Atlas Figure, Third Figure
Unknown · Second century AD (?)
The third Silenus keeps his ancient head and torso, though the right side of the face is lost. The hair is knotted over the brow, the beard full, the body thick and hairy, with the same infibulated sex and the same hand-on-hip pose as his companions. Behind him, below the waist, a portion of the support survives, carved with a palmette of long leaves, the decoration of the pillar that hid behind each figure. Compare the four side by side: they are variations on a single model, cut by different hands, and the small differences in the hair and the rendering of the chest show how a workshop shared out a commission.
The right arm, the left shoulder and arm and both legs from mid-thigh are modern marble, added so that the figure could be displayed complete; the left shoulder gap was left unrestored. The four were seized in Rome in 1803 during the Napoleonic transfers and have stood together at the Louvre ever since, now in the former riding hall of the palace. They date from the second century and come from a building whose porch or courtyard they once supported.
Did You Know? A palmette carved on the surviving piece of pillar shows that even the hidden back of the support was decorated.
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