Hermès Dionysophore

Abstract

The ‘Lormier bronze’, named after its earliest known owner, is an exceptional statuette made of copper alloy. It is remarkable, both by its subject and its style, of very fine quality; but also by its state of conservation, namely its gilding, which allows us to contemplate, for once, such a statuette close to its original aspect. The iconography, rather rare in the field of small bronze figurines, clearly derives from the large statuary and illustrates a little-known episode of the Graeco-Roman mythology. Through the diverse possible models and their repercussion in the ‘minor arts’, the article allows to place this work in the Graeco-Roman production by following, in its main lines, the long way going from the original work to the series crafts, sometimes, as here, of high quality.

Keywords

• iconography
• statuette
• figurine
• bronze
• Hermes
• Mercury