The head is ancient but from another statue. Restorations by the eighteenth-century Italian sculptor Vincenzo Pacetti: (on Dionysos) ivy wreath, neck, both arms, lower right leg, calf and boot of left leg, hanging drapery on right side; (on the archaistic image) uplifted corner of drapery, both arms, lower half of lower legs, feet, pedestal, entire base.

Roman copy of Greek original. Adaptation of a Greek work of the 4th century B.C.

Dionysos, god of wine and divine intoxication, wears a panther skin over his short chiton and his high sandals with animal heads on the overhanging skin flaps. He
stands beside an archaistic female image whose pose and dress imitate those of Greek statues carved in the sixth century B.C. It is difficult to know whether the original Greek bronze statue of Dionysos, of which this is a copy, included the female figure. Supports in the form of pillars, herms, and small statues were not uncommon in Classical art, but this figure may have been added to support the outstretched arm and may represent Spes, a Roman personification of Hope, who was commonly shown as an archaistic maiden.

March, 1796, acquired by Vicenzo Pacetti from the Aldobrandini Palace, Rome; 1796, acquired by Henry Philip Hope from Vicenzo Pacetti; July 23-24, 1917, purchased by Mr. Francis Howard from Christie's, London; until 1954, collection of Mr. Francis Howard; before 1990, private collection, Palm Beach; acquired July 10, 1990, from Sotheby's, New York, gift of The Frederick W. Richmond Foundation, Judy and Michael Steinhardt and Mr. and Mrs. A. Alfred Taubman.

Guattani, G.A. 1806-1807. Memorie Enciclopediche Romane sulle belle arti, antichità Ec. III. P. 91, no. 58.

Hope, T. 1807. Household Furniture and Interior Decoration, execute from designs by Thomas Hope. London, pl. I.

Hope, T. 1812. Costume of the Ancients. 2nd ed. London: William Miller, pl. 167.

Westmacott, C.M. 1824. British Galleries of Painting and Sculpture. London, p. 221.

The Society of Dilettanti. 1835. Specimens of Ancient Sculpture, Selected from Several Collections in Great Britain, by the Society of Dilittanti, vol. II. London, pl. 53.

Clarac, F. de. 1826-1853. Musée de Sculpture Antique et Moderne, Paris. Vol. IV, pl. 695, no. 1614.

Müller, K.O. 1854-1869. Denkmäler der alten Kunst: Nach der Auswahl und Anordnung von C. C. Müller. 2nd edition. Göttingen, pl. 33, 372.

Michaelis, A. 1874. "Die Privatsammlungen antiker Bildwerke in England." Archäologische Zeitung 32: 16, no. 11.

Michaelis, A. 1882. Ancient Marbles in Great Britain. Cambridge: University Press, p. 280, no. 3.

Roscher, W.H. 1884-1937. Ausführliches Lexikon der Griechischen und Römischen Mythologie. Leipzig: B.G. Teubner, p. 1133, fig. 14.

Furtwängler, A. 1895. Masterpieces of Greek Sculpture. A Series of Essays on the History of Art, edited by Eugénie Sellers. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, p. 323, no.5.

Montaiglon, A. 1907. Correspondence des Directeurs de l' Académie de France à Rome. Paris : Charavay, vol. XVI, pp. 412-413.

Reinach, S. 1916. Répertoire de la Statuaire Greque et Romaine. Tome Premier. Clarac de poche. 3rd ed. Paris: E. Leroux, p. 391, I.

Christie's, London. Sale cat., July 23-24, 1917, lot 257, pl. 20.

Bulle, H. 1918. Archaisierende griechische Rundplastik. Münich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften, p. 13, no. 23.

Zancani, D. 1924. "Della testa di Dionysos del museo capitolino e del tipo statuario al quale appartiene." Bullettino della Commissione Archeologica Comunale di Roma 52: 65-90, pl. 3.

Waldhauer, O. F. 1928. Die antiken Skulpturen der Ermitage II. Archäologische Mitteilungen aus Russischen Sammlungen. Berlin: W. de Gruyter, nos. 128 and 129.

Waldhauer, O. 1931. Die Antiken Skulpturen der Ermitage II. Berlin : W. de Gruyter, nos. 128, 129.

Lippold, G. 1950. "Die griechische Plastik." In Handbuch der Archäologie III, edited by Otto and Herbig. München: Beck, p. 224, no. 10.

Muthmann, F. 1951. Statuenstützen und dekoratives Beiwerk an griechischen und römischen Bildwerken: ein Beitrag zur Geschichte der römischen Kopistentätigkeit. Heidelberg: C. Winter, p. 20.

Vermeule, C.C. 1955. "Notes on a New Edition of Michaelis: Ancient Marbles in Great Britain." American Journal of Archaeology 59: 134.

Pochmarski, E. 1974. Das Bild des Dionysos in der Rundplastik der klassischen Zeit Griechenlands. Wien: Verb. d. Wissenschaftl. Gesellschaften Österreichs, pp. 69-72.

Hartmann, J. and K. Parlasca. 1979. Antike Motive bei Thorvaldsen: Studien zur Antikenrezeption des Klassizismus. Tübingen: E. Wasmuth, pp. 73-74, pl. 20,1.

Waywell, G.B. 1986. The Lever and Hope Sculptures, Ancient Sculptures in the Lady Lever Art Gallery, Port Sunlight, and A Catalogue of the Ancient Sculptures formerly in the Hope Collection, London and Deepdene. Berlin: Mann, no. 6, pp. 72-3, pl. 49,1.

Sotheby's, New York. Sale cat., June 20, 1990, lot 40.

1991. One Hundred Twenty-first Annual Report of the Trustees for the Fiscal Year July 1, 1990 through June 30, 1991. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, pp. 31-32.

Picón, Carlos A. 1991. "Recent Acquisitions: A Selection 1990-1991." The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin 49(2): pp. 10-11.

Ramage, N. 1999. "The Pacetti Papers and the Restoration of Ancient Sculpture in the 18th Century." In Von der Schönheit weissen Marmors: Zum 200. Todestag Bartolomeo Cavaceppis, Weiss, T., ed. Mainz: P. von Zabern, vol. 2, pp. 81-2, fig. 54.

Picón, Carlos A. et al. 2007. Art of the Classical World in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, no. 429, pp. 369, 489-90.