Bronze
Tate Collection
Works with images
General Collection
Collection
<a href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/frederick-william-pomeroy-429" aria-label="More by Frederick William Pomeroy" data-gtm-name="header_link_artist" data-gtm-destination="page--artist">Frederick William Pomeroy</a>
Dionysus
Presented by Henry J. Pfungst 1898
actions: postures and motions
arm / arms raised
boy
children
classical myths: gods and heroes
Dionysus / Bacchus
drinking
eating and drinking
goblet
Greek text
inscriptions
kitchen
leisure and pastimes
male
nudes
objects
people
plants and flowers
religion and belief
standing
symbols and personifications
vine
<p>F.W.Pomeroy RA was a prominent figure in the major revival of sculpture that took place in England from the 1870s onwards. The New Sculpture, as it was called, was particularly notable for a renewed interest in the techniques of bronze casting, coinciding with a rise in popular taste for Italian Renaissance bronzes. Pomeroy is reported to have 'made his mark' with this sculpture when he showed it as a plaster cast at the Royal Academy in 1890. Dionysus was the ancient Greek god of wine, and Pomeroy shows him as a vibrant youth, toasting us with his upheld rhyton, or drinking horn. Dionysus was associated with nature and the animals, and here he stands on a Renaissance style base with animal feet.</p><p><em>Gallery label, August 2004</em></p>
sculpture bronze
14 November 2016
14 November 2016
2016-11-14
Tate Britain (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/
2016-11-14
Rex Whistler Restaurant
Collection based display
Dionysus
object: 825 × 318 × 381 mm
Presented by Henry J. Pfungst 1898
<p>F.W.Pomeroy RA was a prominent figure in the major  revival of <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/s/sculpture" title="Glossary definition for 'Sculpture'"><span>sculpture</span></a> that took place in England  from the 1870s onwards. The <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/n/new-sculpture" title="Glossary definition for 'New Sculpture'"><span>New Sculpture</span></a>, as it  was called, was particularly notable for a renewed  interest in the techniques of <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/m/metal" title="Glossary definition for 'Metal'"><span>bronze</span></a> <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/c/cast" title="Glossary definition for 'Cast'"><span>casting</span></a>,  coinciding with a rise in popular taste for  Italian <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/r/renaissance" title="Glossary definition for 'Renaissance'"><span>Renaissance</span></a> bronzes. Pomeroy is reported  to have 'made his mark' with this sculpture when  he showed it as a <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/p/plaster-of-paris" title="Glossary definition for 'Plaster of Paris'"><span>plaster</span></a> cast at the Royal  Academy in 1890. Dionysus was the ancient Greek  god of wine, and Pomeroy shows him as a vibrant  youth, toasting us with his upheld rhyton, or  drinking horn. Dionysus was associated with nature  and the animals, and here he stands on a  Renaissance style base with animal feet.</p>
Display caption
2004-08-18T00:00:00
display-caption
DISPLAY_CAPTION
<p><b>N01762</b> DIONYSOS (?) 1890–91</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Inscr. ‘<i>ΔIÓNYΣOΣ</i>’ on front of base and ‘F. W. Pomeroy, sc/91’ at back of base on r.
<br/>Bronze, 32 1/2×12 1/2×15 (82×31×38).
<br/>Presented by Henry J. Pfungst 1898.
<br/><i>Lit:</i> Edmund Gosse, ‘The New Sculpture, 1879–1894’ in <i>Art Journal</i>, 1894, p.308, (?) the plaster repr. p.310; M.H. Spielmann, <i>British Sculpture and Sculptors of To-Day</i>, 1901, p.116.
<br/><i>Repr:</i> (?) the plaster: <i>Studio</i>, XV, 1899, p.84; R.B.S., <i>Modern British Sculpture</i>, n.d. (1939), p.79.</p>
<p>In 1890 Pomeroy exhibited at the R.A. a ‘Dionysos-statuette’ (2080) which may well have been the <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/p/plaster-of-paris" title="Glossary definition for 'Plaster of Paris'"><span>plaster</span></a> from which this <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/m/metal" title="Glossary definition for 'Metal'"><span>bronze</span></a> was subsequently <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/c/cast" title="Glossary definition for 'Cast'"><span>cast</span></a>. According to Gosse, <i>loc. cit.</i>, the original plaster lacked the foliage which serves as a fig-leaf in the bronze, but the reproductions listed above, in which this feature is present, seem to be of a plaster. Another cast, signed and dated 1909, is in the National Museum of Wales, Cardiff.</p>
<p><b>Published in:</b>
<br/>Mary Chamot, Dennis Farr and Martin Butlin, <i>The Modern British Paintings, Drawings and Sculpture</i>, London 1964, II
<br/></p>

Catalogue entry
2004-09-23T00:00:00
catalogue-entry
CATALOGUE_ENTRY
actions: postures and motions arm / arms raised boy children classical myths: gods and heroes Dionysus / Bacchus drinking eating and drinking goblet Greek text inscriptions kitchen leisure and pastimes male nudes objects people plants and flowers religion and belief standing symbols and personifications vine