Where Is Farnese Bull? Museum Location

Q: Where is the Farnese Bull?

The sculpture is at the Naples National Archaeological Museum. It has been there since the Farnese collection transferred from Rome in the 18th century.

Q: How big is the Farnese Bull?

The group stands 370 cm (12 ft 2 in) tall, the largest surviving ancient marble sculpture. Carving such a complex composition from a single block required extraordinary skill.

Q: What myth does it show?

Amphion and Zethus punish Dirce by tying her to a wild bull. She had tormented their mother Antiope, and this brutal revenge became a popular subject.

Q: Is it Greek or Roman?

The Naples version is Roman, copied from a Greek bronze original. Heavy restoration during the Renaissance added some elements now difficult to distinguish from the ancient core.

Ancient Greek The Farnese Bull is the largest single sculpture to survive from antiquity, depicting the punishment of Dirce, who was tied to a wild bull by Amphion and Zethus for mistreating their mother. Carved from a single block of marble around 150 BCE, the pyramidal composition rises nearly four meters tall with intertwined figures of extraordinary complexity.

Roman naturalist Pliny the Elder described the original Greek bronze, brought from Rhodes to Rome. This marble version was discovered in the Baths of Caracalla in 1545, heavily damaged and requiring extensive restoration. The dynamic composition anticipates Baroque drama by nearly two millennia.

The sculpture dominates a gallery in the Naples Archaeological Museum, demonstrating Hellenistic sculptors' ambition to create multi-figure compositions.

The sculpture is at the Naples National Archaeological Museum. It has been there since the Farnese collection transferred from Rome in the 18th century.

The group stands 370 cm (12 ft 2 in) tall, the largest surviving ancient marble sculpture. Carving such a complex composition from a single block required extraordinary skill.

Amphion and Zethus punish Dirce by tying her to a wild bull. She had tormented their mother Antiope, and this brutal revenge became a popular subject.

The Naples version is Roman, copied from a Greek bronze original. Heavy restoration during the Renaissance added some elements now difficult to distinguish from the ancient core.

Farnese Bull

Details

Where to See It

The Artist

More by Ancient Greek (Unknown)

Lion felling a bull, from a marble pediment

Marble statue of a lion

Fragment of a Funerary Naiskos (Monument in the Shape of a Temple)

Marble Statue of a Kouros (Youth)

Also at Naples National Archaeological Museum

Farnese Atlas

Farnese Hercules

About Farnese Bull

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