In Greek mythology, satyrs were human-like male woodland spirits with several animal features, often a goat-like tail, hooves, ears, or horns.

[citation needed] The sculpture was either carved by an unknown Hellenistic sculptor of the Pergamene school, in the late third or early second century BC[2] or is a Roman copy of high quality, though its present form was given it by a series of restorers in Rome, ending with Vincenzo Pacetti.

The sculpture made its first documented appearance in a receipt for its restoration, 6 June 1628, when it already belonged to the Pope's nephew, Cardinal Francesco Barberini.

The Barberini brought suit to annul the sale and eventually sold the Faun, after much public competition and a ban on its exportation, strongly supported by the antiquarian Carlo Fea and by Antonio Canova— to Ludwig, Crown Prince of Bavaria.

Ludwig had planned a special room in the Glyptothek designed by the architect Leo von Klenze before the purchase was even finalized, and it was in place by 1827.

[9] A gilded copy is included among many other replicas of classical sculptures that adorn the grand cascade that descends from the back of Peter the Great's summer palace, Peterhof, outside of St. Petersburg, Russia.