Art Bernini's Bacchanal: A Faun Thesis

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Rather, the vines and clusters f grapes on the tree give the piece its true softness and roundness. This is mirrored by the effect of the figures' hair. Both faun and children all possess curling flowing ringlets that seem to hang as loosely as do the grapes, emphasizing a sense of liberty in the work.

The sense of softness and liberty bestowed upon the piece by the line and texture is oddly juxtaposed with the impressions created by other elements of Bacchanal: A Faun Teased by Children. Most obviously, the piece is composed in a way that makes the faun's posture seem unnaturally contorted, as if the scene has moved beyond teasing and into torment. The extreme angle of the head and neck, especially with the backwards-arcing back, evince more of a struggle to get away than the softer elements of the sculpture suggest. The same is true of the greedy leaning of the children and the almost bored expression on one of their faces, even as his arm stretches across the faun's head in a somewhat brutal and condescending gesture.

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The relationship of the figures to one another is the most oppressive aspect of the work. The extreme proximity of not only the children to the faun, but the faun to the tree, heightens the feeling of imprisonment that one gets from the faun. The arm reaching up to grasp the top limb of the tree, the only part of the faun to even somewhat emerge from the crowded chaos of the piece, appear almost to be reaching out in supplication rather than with a sense of growth or ecstasy. Even in his early work, Bernini was able to capture such striking and human contradictions without really revealing the intent or meaning of a given sculpture.

Though it is not known who commissioned this piece or where it was originally displayed, it was made during Bernini's patronage of a certain Cardinal and nephew to the Pope in Rome. Bernini made a habit of using pagan characters and motifs, even in religious works......

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