Farnese Bull

Farnese Bull.
Ancient marble sculpture group (probably a Roman copy of a Greek original of c.150 BC); it was found in the Baths of Caracalla in Rome in 1545, was acquired for the Farnese collection soon afterwards, and is now in the Archaeological Museum in Naples. The subject, taken from Greek legend, involves the punishment of Dirce, who for her cruelty to Antiope was tied to the horns of a bull by Antiope's sons (Dirce's stepsons) and trampled to death. The figures are life-size, and the group is one of the most spectacular examples of the technical virtuosity and dramatic movement typical of Hellenistic art; Federico Zuccaro described it as a ‘marvellous mountain of marble’.