A PAIR OF BRONZE FIGURES OF BACCHUS AND ADONIS

FRENCH, LATE 17TH OR 18TH CENTURY

Details

A PAIR OF BRONZE FIGURES OF BACCHUS AND ADONIS
FRENCH, LATE 17TH OR 18TH CENTURY
Each on an integral circular plinth and a circular bronze-mounted marble base; Meleager with a boar's head at his feet.
Dark brown patina with lighter brown high points; very minor chips to bases.
15 and 14 in. (38.1 and 36.8 cm.) high (2)

Literature

COMPARATIVE LITERATURE:
F. Haskell and N. Penny, Taste and the Antique, the Lure of Classical Sculpture 1500-1900, New Haven and London, 1981, pp. 140-141, 173-175, 271-272, nos. 4, 19, 64.

Sale room notice

Please note that the plinth of each of these two bronzes is stamped with the initials 'VP' surmounted by a crown. This appears to relate to the bronze founder Victor Paillard (died 1886). The dating of this lot has therefore been changed to '18th or 19th century'.

Lot Essay

Of these two bronzes, the figure of Adonis is closely modelled on the Belvedere Antinous, now in the Vatican Museums in Rome. The origins of the model for the figure of Bacchus are less clear, but it almost certainly has precedents in one or more antique models.
The iconography of these bronzes is unusual. Generally the boar's head is an attribute of Meleager, however, as there is no traditional link between Bacchus and Meleager, it seems more likely that the figure depicts Adonis, who was slain by a wild boar and is said to have been beloved by Bacchus.

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