Statue victim of student’s selfie-taking

MILAN

The statue, a victim of vandalism, is an early 19th century copy of an ancient Greek masterpiece.

A student snapped the leg off a valuable early 19th century sculpture by attempting to take a “selfie” while sitting on its knee, the Daily Mail has reported.

The Drunken Satyr statue at the Academy of Fine Arts of Brera in Milan, Italy, depicts a follower of Dionysus, the Greek god of wine, passed out in a drunken stupor. But it is now literally legless after the unknown vandal broke off its left limb while reportedly trying to take a picture of himself.

Copy of a masterpiece

The statue is an early 19th century copy of an ancient Greek masterpiece discovered in Rome around 400 years ago. The real thing, which is thought to date to around 220 B.C., remains safe and sound at the Glyptothek museum in Munich, Germany.

The copy is located in the academy’s hallway which leads to a room containing valuable sculptures from that era.

Due to what was described as a technical problem, the incident was not caught on security footage, but witnesses say they saw a student, who they believed to be foreign, clambering onto it to take a picture.
The “Drunken Satyr,” which is also known as the “Barberini Faun” is an ancient Greek sculpture from the Hellenistic era.