Satyress

Satyresses are the female equivalent to satyrs, depicted with a human head and torso, generally including bare breasts, but the body of a goat from waist down. They were a late invention by poets and artists and are comparatively rare in classical art. Such a creature may also be known as a fauness, but this nomenclature is rarely seen in English; "faunesse" is the spelling in French.

Though not often seen compared to the omnipresent depictions of male satyrs and centaurs, the satyress figure was certainly not unknown to classical artists. Michaelangelo included a haggard satyress nursing drunken toddlers at her elderly breasts in his 1533 work, "The Children's Bacchanal". [http://www.royalcollection.org.uk/microsites/theartofitaly/object.asp?exhibs=CITAFLORO&item=9&object=912777&row=26 Michaelangelo Buonarotti: "The Children's Bacchanal"] , published online by Royal Collection: Royal Palaces, Residences, and Art Collection. United Kingdom. Accessed February 4, 2008.]

The Art Institute of Chicago has an example of a beautiful, mature satyress accompanied by putti and a male satyr in a 16th century study by Paolo Farinati of Italy. A third satyr figure is presented in rear three-quarter view and its gender cannot be definitively determined, though the glimpse of the chest suggests small female breasts are present. [http://www.artic.edu/aic/collections/amer/citi/object?id=82120&%20collcatid=2 Paolo Farinati, Italian, 1524-1606] , Art Institute of Chicago. Accessed February 4, 2008. The Art Institute also holds a bronze candlestand or oil lamp of a mature female satyr seated with her satyr-son leaning against her knee while she holds a light aloft. The tentative date on this work is circa 1500, pushing the motif back into the 15th century. [http://www.artic.edu/aic/provenance/object?id=15955&keyword=satyr (Workshop of) Andrea Riccio, Italian, "Satyr Mother and Child"] , Art Institute of Chicago. Accessed February 4, 2008.

Clodion used the motif in a work which is now in the Walters Art Gallery in Baltimore, Maryland: "Female Satyr Carrying Two Putti". This young and healthy satyress is striding upright, carrying a squirming cherub in each arm. [http://www.britannica.com/ebc/art-9508/Female-Satyr-Carrying-Two-Putti-terra-cotta-statuette-by-Clodion Female Satyr Carrying Two Putti] , terra cotta work displayed in Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore, Maryland. Accessed February 4, 2008. At least one small terra cotta satyress depicted reclining was created by a student of Clodion in the late 18th or early 19th Century, but is in a private collection. [http://books.google.com/books?id=QFadozGYvksC&pg=PA161&lpg=PA161&dq=paisley+palme+french&source=web&ots=RVoo_UvPVT&sig=Zp6MNr2fTQaZMS-5K9R_tGTOJNc#PPA161,M1 "Dictionnaire des termes de l'art: anglais/français & français/anglais"] , by Claude Ferment. La Maison Du Dictionnaire, (1994). English ISBN 2856080596

Giambattista Giovanni Battista Tiepolo, an 18th century Venetian painter in the rococo style, painted at least two works with a satyress as the main figure: "Satyress with a Putto" and "Satyress With Two Putti and a Tambourine." [http://timelines.ws/subjects/Artists.HTML Timeline of Artists] , Accessed February 4, 2008. Although satyrs are generally shown seducing human women, Tiepolo drew "Satyr Surprising A Satyress", which depicts a hirsute satyr grasping a relatively bare-skinned satyress around the waist. [http://www.artic.edu/aic/provenance/object?id=107922&keyword=satyr Giovanni Domenico Tiepolo, Italian, 1727-1804: "Satyr Surprising A Satyress"] , Art Institute of Chicago. Accessed February 4, 2008.

The satyress is common in modern fantasy art. They may be portrayed as normal human women with the hind legs of a goat and a tail. In modern fantasy art, they commonly are shown with pointed ears and horns as well. Aubrey Beardsley has drawn the satyress figure in this style.

ee also

*Faun
*Glaistig
*Kentaurides

References