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Mysterious, enigmatic and beautifully restored Donatello's Attis gets a facelift!
[Susan Glasspool]
After a lengthy restoration at the Opificio of the Pietre Dure, this Cupid or Attis - a beautiful sculpture by one of Florence’s great masters - is now part of a special exhibition on the ground floor of the Bargello Museum. It is shown with two other ancient Attises, one in bronze, the other in marble, on loan from the Louvre and the Vatican Museums, and dating from the 1st to the 2nd centuries A.D. Once the exhibition - entitled Love returns to the Bargello - is over, the Attis will be returned to its former site in the Donatello Room on the first floor. The restoration has recovered some of the original patina and gold leaf that once decorated the figure and new discoveries have also been made as to its origins, which up until now were somewhat mysterious.
It was in fact probably carried out for the Bartolini family (their coat of arms bore the same poppy seed heads that can be seen on the belt) and later inherited by Doni family.
Its attribution as Attis - in the past it has been variously identified as Mercury, Pantheus, Bacchus, Aeon and Eros - comes from its enigmatically angelic yet diabolic aspect, the snakes underfoot, the faunlike tail, winged feet and especially from the belted open trousers exposing its bared genitals, recalling castration, so closely linked to the myths about Attis.
Go and admire it while it is still on display with its more ancient counterparts and decide - if you can - which you like best!
Who was Attis?
There are several myths regarding him among the Greeks and Romans and we will never really know which was the most popular. (let alone the truth!).
The best known story tells us that Attis was the child of the daughter of the god of the Sangarius river in Asia Minor, which flows into the Black Sea. He was conceived after she picked the fruit of an almond tree that had grown from male sexual organs of the demon Agdistis, whose double sexuality had so frightened the gods that they had castrated him.
Abandoned by his mother at birth, Attis was saved and nourished by a goat. He grew up into an extraordinarily beautiful youth and was sent to Pessinus, near Mount Dindymus in Asia Minor, to marry the king’s daughter. However Agdistis suddenly appeared at the wedding party causing Attis to cut off his genitals in a fit of folly.
Repentant Agdistis, perhaps himself in love with Attis (what a muddle!), begged Zeus to preserve the body from decay and it was apparently buried near Pessinus, where a temple was built.
Another version tells us that Attis, a worshipper of the Mother of the Gods or Agdistis, promised to obey the goddess’s request to guard her temple and keep his chastity. However he broke his word and fell in love with the Naiad Sagaritis. To punish him the Mother of the Gods damaged the Naiad’s tree, thus destroying her, with the result that Attis went mad. He ran to the top of Mount Dindymus, where he tore at his body with a sharp stone, saying “Perish the parts that were my ruin.” [Ovid], and then cut off his genitals. He was then transformed into a pine tree.
Yet another story tells us that Attis was the son of the Phrygian Calaus and born an eunuch. He went to Lydia where he encouraged the local population to hold orgies in honour of Agdistis. Zeus punished them by sending a boar to destroy their crops and this same animal apparently killed Attis.
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http://www.sbas.firenze.it/bargello/