The sculpture depicts a female figure dressed in flowing drapery holding a cluster of grapes in one hand, with the other hand positioned delicately underneath. Her head is adorned with a wreath made of intricately carved leaves and grapes. The sculpture is made of white marble with subtle gray veining throughout. The figure stands on a rectangular pedestal and her facial expression is serene and slightly smiling, with her gaze directed forward. The folds of her garment and her features are intricately detailed and lifelike.
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The sculpture depicts a female figure dressed in flowing drapery holding a cluster of grapes in one hand, with the other hand positioned delicately underneath. Her head is adorned with a wreath made of intricately carved leaves and grapes. The sculpture is made of white marble with subtle gray veining throughout. The figure stands on a rectangular pedestal and her facial expression is serene and slightly smiling, with her gaze directed forward. The folds of her garment and her features are intricately detailed and lifelike.

National Gallery of Art · Sculpture

Bacchante

French 19th Century

Date
19th century
Medium
marble
Dimensions
overall: 161.2 x 44.4 x 49 cm (63 7/16 x 17 1/2 x 19 5/16 in.)
Classification
Sculpture · Statue
Accession number
1952.5.97
Credit line
Samuel H. Kress Collection
Time span
1776 to 1800
Department
CSD

Subjects and terms

  • French
  • carved
  • classical
  • mythology
  • French Sculpture of the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries
  • Bacchante
Provenance

Possibly Madame Elizabeth de France, Palais de Montreuil, Versailles.[1] Possibly Richard Seymour-Conway, 4th marquess of Hertford [1800-1870], London and Paris; possibly his illegitimate son, Sir Richard Wallace [1818-1890], London and Paris; possibly his wife, Amélie-Julie-Charlotte Castelnau, Lady Wallace [1819-1897], Paris and London; possibly her adviser and secretary, Sir John Murray Scott [1847-1912], London and Paris.[2] Charles T. Yerkes, Jr. [1837-1905], Chicago and New York, by 1904.[3] (his estate sale, American Art Association, at the Yerkes New York residence, 11-13 April 1910, 2nd day, no. 249, as by Falconet);[4] Samuel J. Untermyer [1858-1940], Yonkers, New York; (his estate sale, Parke Bernet, New York, 15-17 May 1940, no. 973, as by Clodion). (Duveen Brothers, Inc., London, New York, and Paris); purchased 1949 by the Samuel H. Kress Foundation, New York; gift 1952 to NGA. [1] A bronze plaque attached to the back of the sculpture's base gives this provenance, but it cannot be corroborated; see the discussion by Ulrich Middeldorf, _Sculptures from the Samuel H. Kress Collection: European Schools, XIV-XIX Century_, London, 1976: 112-113. [2] The chain of owners from Hertford to Scott is given in the Duveen prospectus for the sculpture (in NGA curatorial files), but no other documentation has yet been found to support it. See Middeldorf 1976, 113, where he mentions another sculpture that was probably bought by Yerkes from Scott in 1902. [3] _Catalogue of Paintings and Sculpture in the Collection of Charles Tyson Yerkes Esq., New York_, New York, 1904: no. 86, repro., as by Falconet. [4] The 1910 Yerkes sale, at which the NGA sculpture was purchased by Untermyer, was kindly brought to the attention of NGA sculpture curators by Laure de Margerie, in her e-mail of 23 April 2021 to C.D. Dickerson and Alison Luchs, in NGA curatorial files. She referenced, and sent images from, two versions of the sale catalogue, one with annotations and both in the library of the Clark Art Institute, Williamstown.

Inscription

on plaque, on back, screwed to base: BACCHANTE / Provenant de la Propriete / de Madame ELISABETH / Soeur du Roi Louis XVI / a VERSAILLES

NGA object ID 41712. Collection metadata is reproduced under CC0. This work is included because its NGA published-image record is marked open access; visitors should recheck the source record before substantial reuse.