Gérôme, Jean-Léon (1824-1904)
Anacréon, Bacchus et l’Amour (Anacreon with the Infants Bacchus and Cupid)
modeled 1878 (cast c.1893)
Bronze, 72.4 × 43.8 cm
Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago
In the early 19th century, industrial approaches to production created a new middle-class market for small-scale bronze statuettes, which were displayed in domestic interiors. This statuette is a reduced version of a larger-than-life composition depicting the ancient Greek poet Anacreon cradling Bacchus and Cupid. As the god of wine and pleasure, the infant Bacchus is wreathed in vine leaves and holds a bunch of grapes. Cupid, god of love, bears feathered wings and presses his cheek to the poet’s. French bronze foundry Barbedienne reproduced this popular work in five different sizes. (AIC)
See also:
• Anacreon (c.582 BC-c.488 BC)