Nicola Fiorillo (Italian, 18th century) Nude Faun Drinking from a Long Horn

Nicola Fiorillo (Italian, 18th century)

Nude Faun Drinking from a Long Horn from Le Antichità di Ercolano Esposte
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Engraving on laid paper, published by the Regia Stamperia, Naples, 1757–1787

An original 18th-century copperplate engraving from the monumental series Le Antichità di Ercolano Esposte, documenting the archaeological discoveries at Herculaneum, Pompeii, and Stabiae. This particular plate (Vol. V, pl. 46) shows a reclining nude faun or satyr, drinking wine from a long curved horn.

The composition was drawn by Giovanni Elia Morghen, one of the most skilled draughtsmen working under royal patronage, and engraved by Nicola Fiorillo. The dual scales in Palmo Napolitano and Palmo Romano at the base were used to show the proportions of the original fresco.

This work belongs to the fifth volume of the Antichità series, devoted entirely to Roman wall paintings. The Antichità was printed only in very limited numbers, bound in red morocco, and distributed by the Bourbon court to select monarchs, academies, and libraries. Its publication helped ignite the spread of the Pompeian style and directly influenced Neoclassical interiors across Europe, most notably Robert Adam, who adapted figures from the same fresco cycle into his ceiling design at Syon House in 1761–62.

Plate: 24 × 32 cm approx. Framed 51 x 43 cm.