Bacchante and Cupid with Child thumbnail 1
Image of Gallery in South Kensington
On display at V&A South Kensington
Sculpture, Room 111, The Gilbert Bayes Gallery

Bacchante and Cupid with Child

Group
1793
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

This group is of a Bacchante, a female follower of Bacchus, the god of wine (here she wears a vine wreath) and intoxication in Roman mythology. Bacchantes were the most important members of Bacchus' retinue. They were a popular subject in art dating from ancient Rome and Greece to the modern period. Here the Baccante is seated with cupid and a child.

Joseph-Charles Marin (1759-1834), the sculptor, was a pupil and friend of the better known Clodion and this work echoes Clodion's depiction of female semi-nudes. The V&A has examples of the work in terracotta of both sculptors. This particular subject was one with which Marin experimented, producing several slightly different compositions in the 1790s.

Although terracotta is often associated with models - an intermediate stage in making finished works of sculpture - by the 1760s undecorated but finished terracotta sculptures had become fashionable, especially in France. Such terracottas were prized and collected as works of art. They included a variety of sculptural work, including decorative domestic pieces. This group, with the smooth terracotta of the skin contrasting to assured and highly textured modelling for hair and other details, is exactly the type of object that was displayed in fashionable interiors. The high degree of finish and finely rendered detail are matched by the technical expertise needed to ensure a successful firing at a high temperature.


Object details

Categories
Object type
TitleBacchante and Cupid with Child (generic title)
Materials and techniques
Terracotta
Brief description
Group, terracotta, of A Bacchante, by Joseph-Charles Marin, France, signed and dated 1793
Physical description
On an oval base, a reclining Bacchante leans against a rock covered with drapery, which is carried over her right thigh. She wears a vine wreath and her hair is bound with a ribbon. With her right arm she supports a seated cupid (winged), holding a quiver. In her left she holds a bow, which is grasped by a standing child (without wings). On the ground lies a tambourine filled with fruit and flowers and an overturned ewer spilling wine.
Dimensions
  • Height: 20cm
  • Length: 27.5cm
  • Depth: 13cm
  • Weight: 3.14kg
Marks and inscriptions
'Marin 1793' (On back of rock)
Credit line
Purchased under the terms of the Vallentin Bequest and of the John Webb Trust
Object history
Vendor stated that this was bought from the French dealer Fabiani and that it was formally in the collection of Henry Lepaure, Conservateur of the Palais des Beaux-Arts de la Ville de Paris (Petit Palais). Bought from F. Partridge for £650, in 1954 (with £330 from the Vallentin Bequest and £320 from the Webb bequest).

Historical significance: Marin was a pupil of Clodion, and this work echoes Clodion's depiction of the female nude.
Subjects depicted
Summary
This group is of a Bacchante, a female follower of Bacchus, the god of wine (here she wears a vine wreath) and intoxication in Roman mythology. Bacchantes were the most important members of Bacchus' retinue. They were a popular subject in art dating from ancient Rome and Greece to the modern period. Here the Baccante is seated with cupid and a child.

Joseph-Charles Marin (1759-1834), the sculptor, was a pupil and friend of the better known Clodion and this work echoes Clodion's depiction of female semi-nudes. The V&A has examples of the work in terracotta of both sculptors. This particular subject was one with which Marin experimented, producing several slightly different compositions in the 1790s.

Although terracotta is often associated with models - an intermediate stage in making finished works of sculpture - by the 1760s undecorated but finished terracotta sculptures had become fashionable, especially in France. Such terracottas were prized and collected as works of art. They included a variety of sculptural work, including decorative domestic pieces. This group, with the smooth terracotta of the skin contrasting to assured and highly textured modelling for hair and other details, is exactly the type of object that was displayed in fashionable interiors. The high degree of finish and finely rendered detail are matched by the technical expertise needed to ensure a successful firing at a high temperature.
Bibliographic reference
Poulet, A and Scherf, G, Clodion, Paris, Musée du Louvre, 1992 (exhibition catalogue), pp. 408-411
Collection
Accession number
A.42-1954

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Record createdMarch 3, 2009
Record URL
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