Famous Fauns

A faun is a mythological creature with an extensive history in visual culture.  Half-human and half-deer, fauns embody the spirit of the forest and the animals that inhabit it.   In art, representation of this hybrid mammal is manifold.  For example, the most extravagant ancient home discovered in Pompeii exhibited a bronze statue of a dancing faun in the atrium.  Appropriately, archeologist now referred to the site as Casa del Fauno.  The home also included many more impressive works of art like the Alexander Mosaic, a remarkable rendition of the Greek battle of Issus in 333 BCE. 

Another famous faun is named after its first documented owner, Cardinal Francesco Barberini.  The antique original is on display at the Glyptothek Museum in Germany (above) and often attracts much attention for its erotic aesthetic.  The Louvre in Paris has an 18^th century replication of the Barberini Faun.

Thousands of years after the Greeks first depicted their fascination with fauns, we continue to imagine and re-imagine these mythological beings.  C.S. Lewis created The Chronicles of Narnia including the beloved faun character, Mr. Tumnus.  Guillermno del Toro also employed the faun in his film El Laberinto del Fauno.  This magical movie intertwines history and fantasy, where the faun entices the young Ophelia into an alternate reality.

A scene from El Laberinto del Fauno-

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZVLZz0Sj-ko&feature=related

Glyptothek Museum-

http://www.antike-am-koenigsplatz.mwn.de/glyptothek/