GENERAL DESCRIPTION
In an intimate family scene, a satyr lulls his newborn child to sleep with trumpet music. Satyrs, part-human and part-goat, were popular figures during the Renaissance, as they harkened back to the classical hybrid monsters of ancient Greek and Roman art. They were companions to Dionysus, the Greek god of wine, and thus creatures who loved the physical pleasures of wine, women, and wind instruments. Satyrs usually act as an oppositional force to the conventional norms of decorum in civilization. In this engraving, the satyr demonstrates his skill at playing instruments, a refined talent, but its form crudely mimics the shape of his erect phallus, emphasizing his animalistic side. Yet Albrecht Dürer also reaffirms the satyr’s humanity through the tenderness of this family scene. The idea of a Satyr playing music to his family does not follow any known literary sources. It is an original conception by the artist, undoubtedly created for a sophisticated and scholarly audience.
Adapted from
- Laura Sevelis, DMA label copy, March 2015.
- Carl Wuellner, DMA label copy, December 2003.
NOTES
Consider creating a term defined for satyr.
General Description: Sevelis from Saints and Monsters: Prints by Albrecht Dürer, Wuellner from Black Lines Only: Engravings and Woodcuts by Albrecht Dürer
Added Saints and Monsters label copy to TMS as a text entry.
Changed the object name from Print to Engraving. Changed the medium from Engraving to ink on paper.
Add information to existing TMS label copy by Wuellner. The texts were written for "With Black Lines Only: Engravings and Woodcuts by Albrecht Dürer" (December 21, 2003- March 28, 2004).
Deleted the text in the exhibition history field for "With Black Lines Only" because it was duplicated by an exhibition record already entered in TMS and related to this object.
DMA Friends Activity- puzzle brochures by Danielle Shulz and Tanya Miller for the Saints and Monsters exhibition- Fall 2015
HOW TO FIND THIS?
Added the following exhibition as to the exhibition history text field (because it was not a DMA exhibition). This exhibition was on a typescript page along with four other exhibitions and eleven Dürer object numbers. The other four exhibitions already have TMS records and are linked to the correct objects.
1982: "Depictions of the Advent in Early European Art," Tyler Museum of Art, Tyler, TX, December 12, 1982- February 6, 1983
Alternate title:
Musical Satyr and Nymph with Baby
Former titles (from catalogue raisonnes)
The Little Satyr
Pan and Syrinx
The Birth of Adonis
Provenance (not public)
n.d.: Colonel Henry Van den Bergh, London [1]
n.d.: his widow
Until 1971: Calvin J. Holmes, Dallas, TX, purchased from the above
From 1971: Dallas Museum of Fine Arts, bequest from the above [2]
[1] The original registration card for this object in the DMA Collections Records Object File includes this line of provenance as the owner prior to Holmes acquiring the print for the Museum. The time period and transaction are not specified.
[2] The name of the Dallas Museum of Fine Arts, founded in 1933, was changed to the Dallas Museum of Art in 1983.
Catalogue essays
Artist/designers
Cultures
Geography
Place of origin: Nuremberg (Germany): TGN: 7004334
Process/materials
Historical periods
Individuals
Subject terms
music
forest
trees
mother
father
infant
family
nude
mythical beings
fur
horns (animal part)
reclining
nude
reedpipes
lullabies
RELATED OBJECTS
PROVENANCE
AUDIO ASSETS
Josh Rose, Saints and Monsters: Prints by Albrecht Durer, gallery talk, June 17, 2015.
248141244: UMO
Connection made by confirming exhibition in TMS and Piction ID correct.
VIDEO ASSETS
IMAGE ASSETS
WEB RESOURCES
- Inside Albrecht Dürer's Studio- Engraving~Watch this demonstration and explanation of the engraving process created by the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute for the exhibition, The Strange World of Albrecht Dürer (November 14, 2010- March 13, 2011).
ARCHIVAL RESOURCES
FUN FACTS
- In his 1943 foundational survey of Albrecht Dürer's oeuvre, Erwin Panofsky identified the satyr's instrument as a platterspiel, a reed instrument equiped with an air reservoir like a bagpipe.
TEACHING IDEAS
RULES
Apply to objects where number equals 1971.82
Category
rules_operator
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General Description
In an intimate family scene, a satyr lulls his newborn child to sleep with trumpet music. Satyrs, part-human and part-goat, were popular figures during the Renaissance, as they harkened back to the classical hybrid monsters of ancient Greek and Roman art. They were companions to Dionysus, the Greek god of wine, and thus creatures who loved the physical pleasures of wine, women, and wind instruments. Satyrs usually act as an oppositional force to the conventional norms of decorum in civilization. In this engraving, the satyr demonstrates his skill at playing instruments, a refined talent, but its form crudely mimics the shape of his erect phallus, emphasizing his animalistic side. Yet Albrecht Dürer also reaffirms the satyr’s humanity through the tenderness of this family scene. The idea of a Satyr playing music to his family does not follow any known literary sources. It is an original conception by the artist, undoubtedly created for a sophisticated and scholarly audience.
Adapted from
- Laura Sevelis, DMA label copy, March 2015.
- Carl Wuellner, DMA label copy, December 2003.
Fun Facts
- In his 1943 foundational survey of Albrecht Dürer's oeuvre, Erwin Panofsky identified the satyr's instrument as a platterspiel, a reed instrument equiped with an air reservoir like a bagpipe.
Archival Resources
Web Resources
- Inside Albrecht Dürer's Studio- Engraving~Watch this demonstration and explanation of the engraving process created by the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute for the exhibition, The Strange World of Albrecht Dürer (November 14, 2010- March 13, 2011).
Notes
Consider creating a term defined for satyr.
General Description: Sevelis from Saints and Monsters: Prints by Albrecht Dürer, Wuellner from Black Lines Only: Engravings and Woodcuts by Albrecht Dürer
Added Saints and Monsters label copy to TMS as a text entry.
Changed the object name from Print to Engraving. Changed the medium from Engraving to ink on paper.
Add information to existing TMS label copy by Wuellner. The texts were written for "With Black Lines Only: Engravings and Woodcuts by Albrecht Dürer" (December 21, 2003- March 28, 2004).
Deleted the text in the exhibition history field for "With Black Lines Only" because it was duplicated by an exhibition record already entered in TMS and related to this object.
DMA Friends Activity- puzzle brochures by Danielle Shulz and Tanya Miller for the Saints and Monsters exhibition- Fall 2015
HOW TO FIND THIS?
Added the following exhibition as to the exhibition history text field (because it was not a DMA exhibition). This exhibition was on a typescript page along with four other exhibitions and eleven Dürer object numbers. The other four exhibitions already have TMS records and are linked to the correct objects.
1982: "Depictions of the Advent in Early European Art," Tyler Museum of Art, Tyler, TX, December 12, 1982- February 6, 1983
Alternate title:
Musical Satyr and Nymph with Baby
Former titles (from catalogue raisonnes)
The Little Satyr
Pan and Syrinx
The Birth of Adonis
Provenance (not public)
n.d.: Colonel Henry Van den Bergh, London [1]
n.d.: his widow
Until 1971: Calvin J. Holmes, Dallas, TX, purchased from the above
From 1971: Dallas Museum of Fine Arts, bequest from the above [2]
[1] The original registration card for this object in the DMA Collections Records Object File includes this line of provenance as the owner prior to Holmes acquiring the print for the Museum. The time period and transaction are not specified.
[2] The name of the Dallas Museum of Fine Arts, founded in 1933, was changed to the Dallas Museum of Art in 1983.
Catalogue essays
Artist/designers
Cultures
Geography
Place of origin: Nuremberg (Germany): TGN: 7004334
Process/materials
Historical periods
Individuals
Subject terms
music
forest
trees
mother
father
infant
family
nude
mythical beings
fur
horns (animal part)
reclining
nude
reedpipes
lullabies
RELATED OBJECTS
PROVENANCE
AUDIO ASSETS
Josh Rose, Saints and Monsters: Prints by Albrecht Durer, gallery talk, June 17, 2015.
248141244: UMO
Connection made by confirming exhibition in TMS and Piction ID correct.
VIDEO ASSETS
rules
Apply To
Objects
number
Equals
1971.82
source file
object_notes_2_c-0138.xml.nores