Young Faun with Heron

1890

Young Faun with Heron, 1890. Frederick William MacMonnies (American, 1863–1937). Bronze; overall: 68.6 cm (27 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Gift from a Friend 1938.290 MacMonnies originally created this composition as a large garden sculpture, but later marketed small-scale versions, such as this example, to adorn interior spaces. The subject presents a boyish mythological figure mischievously grasping a bird whose ample wings curve around him. A striking visual contrast is achieved through the variegated textures of the heron’s feathers and the faun’s smooth flesh. The world’s largest heron species, the Goliath heron, can stand upwards of five feet tall.