The Dancing Faun of Pompeii    National Museum, Naples

The Dancing Faun of Pompeii 19-1/2" H fiberglas with Green Bronze Finish $195 (less Internet discount of $22) = $173 (freight $12) The Dancing Faun of Pompeii 33" H fiberglas with Green Bronze Finish $420 (less Internet discount of $40) = $380 (freight $22)

This captivating faun was standing in the center of a pool before one of Pompeii's most sumptuous houses when the ash and lapilli of the 79 A.D. eruption of Vesuvius completely covered the doomed city. For 1800 years darkness enfolded him but the enchanting fellow was not destined to remain forever in the shadows. Nineteenth century excavations brought him again to the light and, eternal in his lust for life, once more he dances in the sun. His laughter, his dancing, his agile vibrating figure were hedonistic symbols of the full life sought by the wealthy Romans although he was probably brought to Italy from Greece where he had been a product of the rococo tendencies of the late Hellenistic age. By this time fauns, once portrayed with the legs and hooves of a goat, had assumed a human body with only a short tail and abbreviated horns to identify them with the mythological creatures.