Farnese Bull

Common card · No. 396484

The Farnese Bull (Italian: Toro Farnese), formerly in the Farnese collection in Rome, is a massive and elaborated Roman copy of a Hellenistic sculpture. It is the largest single sculpture yet recovered from antiquity. Along with the rest of the Farnese antiquities, since 1826 it has been in the collection of the Museo Archeologico Nazionale Napoli in Naples, inv. no. 6002, although in recent years sometimes it is displayed at the Museo di Capodimonte across the city. This sculpture is much restored and includes around the base a child, a dog, and other animals that perhaps were not in the original composition if representations in drawings are complete. This sculpture is dated to the Severan period (A.D. 222–235). This colossal marble sculptural group represents an event related in Classical Greek mythology. The subject is the death of Dirce, first wife of Lykos, King of Thebes. She was tied to a wild bull by Amphion and Zethus, the sons of Antiope, who wanted to punish Dirce for the ill...

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