Nymph v. Satyr at Getty Villa
Roman, Nymph Resisting a Satyr , AD 1–100. Santa Barbara Museum of Art The Getty Villa is showing a Roman Nymph Resisting a Satyr , on loan from the Santa Barbara Museum of Art. Though the subject is less evident in its headless state, it is a scene of sexual violence. The male is a satyr, grabbing the nymph's breast as he pulls her towards him. The nymph resists the satyr's grip and pulls his hair. The subject was Hellenistic, repeated in Roman times. The best-known example , found at Tivoli, is now in the British Museum. That sculpture includes both figures' heads, but the nymph's oddly serene head is an 18th-century restoration. In the 19th century the sculpture was stored in the Secretum ("secret museum"), lest it corrupt women, children, and the working class. The British Museum has a video on its sculpture and the reception of its rapey theme. Marble Group of a Nymph Struggling to Escape from a Satyr , 2nd century AD. British Museum. The Santa Barbara...
