Romigioli Antichità - Highlight BRAFA 2026
26/11/2025
On the occasion of BRAFA 2026, the Baroque high-relief Small Faun playing with a Satyr, presented by Romigioli Antichità, will undoubtedly be one of the highlights of their stand. This marble sculpture, dated and signed by Giuseppe Piamontini, is one of the artist’s masterpieces.
Giuseppe Piamontini : the dialogue of sculptures between myth and Medici patronage
One of Giuseppe Piamontini’s most spirited works, dated 1710, depicts a young satyr playing with a little faun in an interplay of gestures, draperies, and pastoral symbols. The dynamic and theatrical scene reflects the taste of the Florentine Baroque and appears to have been conceived as a pendant to the celebrated sculpture of Eros and Anteros, executed by Piamontini in 1707 and now preserved in the Medici Treasury at the Palazzo Pitti.
The commission, by analogy with the work at the Pitti, can very likely be attributed to Ferdinando de’ Medici, son of Cosimo III, and attests to the court’s esteem for the artist, who was among the great prince’s most favored sculptors. The sculpture stages a dialogue between the concrete, musical dimension of the young faun and the magical, playful challenge embodied by the satyr, forming an allegory of nature, abundance, and contrast.
Also curious and significant is the presence, in the collections of the Palacio Real de El Pardo in Madrid, of a small bronze perfectly faithful to the Florentine sculpture. It almost appears to be a preparatory bronze model, though certainly later, since we know it was commissioned by Charles III of Bourbon during his stay in Florence in 1732.
Giuseppe Piamontini : the dialogue of sculptures between myth and Medici patronage
One of Giuseppe Piamontini’s most spirited works, dated 1710, depicts a young satyr playing with a little faun in an interplay of gestures, draperies, and pastoral symbols. The dynamic and theatrical scene reflects the taste of the Florentine Baroque and appears to have been conceived as a pendant to the celebrated sculpture of Eros and Anteros, executed by Piamontini in 1707 and now preserved in the Medici Treasury at the Palazzo Pitti.
The commission, by analogy with the work at the Pitti, can very likely be attributed to Ferdinando de’ Medici, son of Cosimo III, and attests to the court’s esteem for the artist, who was among the great prince’s most favored sculptors. The sculpture stages a dialogue between the concrete, musical dimension of the young faun and the magical, playful challenge embodied by the satyr, forming an allegory of nature, abundance, and contrast.
Also curious and significant is the presence, in the collections of the Palacio Real de El Pardo in Madrid, of a small bronze perfectly faithful to the Florentine sculpture. It almost appears to be a preparatory bronze model, though certainly later, since we know it was commissioned by Charles III of Bourbon during his stay in Florence in 1732.
