The Barberini Faun

One of the most famous and most admired sculptures of classical antiquity is the figure known as the Barberini Faun, which King Ludwig II of Bavaria acquired in 1813 for the Munich Glyptothek, then still in the planning stages. In the seventeenth century the sculpture, of which only a fragment survived, had already been restored several times. However, the completions added on these occasions remained in place only until the end of the eighteenth century, when the sculptor Vincenzo Pacetti acquired the faun from the Barberini, a family of Roman aristocrats, and substituted his own restorations for the old ones. The result was that the figure’s appearance was now far closer to its original state than it had been with the changes made in the previous century. This clay figure, very probably made in connection with that restoration process, documents the supplementary work undertaken by Pacetti.