‼️ VILLA ADRIANA – TREASURES OF THE ACCADEMIA: THE RED FAUN

✅ In the Capitoline Museums of Rome there is another masterpiece of ancient sculpture, coming from the Accademia: the Red Faun, which was discovered in 1737 together with the two statues of the Centaurs made by Aristeas and Papias

✅ The Red Faun had been reduced to fragments, which were found during the excavations of Monsignor Furietti, the same one who discovered the two Centaurs. It was admirably restored at the behest of Pope Benedict XIV, who entrusted it to Clemente Bianchi and Bartolomeo Cavaceppi, two of the greatest specialists of the time.

✅ It is carved in the precious Rosso Antico marble, coming from Cape Tenaro in Greece. The Faun has his right arm raised and holds with the hand a bunch of grapes (restored). On the right shoulder the Nebris is knotted – which is a goat skin – draped also on the shoulder and on the left arm. The details of the Nebris, especially the goat's head and hooves, are a little masterpiece by themselves.

✅ In the folds of the Nebris there is a large bunch of grapes and two pomegranates. At the bottom right is a Goat and a Cista (a sacred basket) and on the left a tree trunk with a (restored) flute that serves as a support. There are other replicas of this type of sculpture, for example in the Villa of the Antonines at Lanuvium (near Rome).

✅ The bunch of grapes obviously alludes to wine and therefore to Dionysus, and in fact the Faun was part of the Dionysian procession like the two Centaurs. A sculpture of Child Dionysus was also found in the Accademia.

✅ The iconography linked to Dionysus confirms that the Accademia was probably a sacred area linked to the cult of Dionysus and Osiris, as we discovered thanks to our studies of Archaeoastronomy published in the volume «Villa Adriana. Architettura Celeste. I Segreti dei Solstizi» (Hadrian’s Villa. Heavenly Architecture.The Secrets of the Solstices), which can be purchased on this site.

‼️ A hymn to the Dionysian pleasures of wine!