In 1918, after the departure of Richard Guino, who had collaborated on about 20 sculptures, Renoir engaged the young sculptor Louis Morel to assist him. Together they created three terracotta reliefs, including the present subject, on Dionysian themes. "It is a moving fact that the very last sculptures of this old man, who was paralyzed and not far from his end, evoked music and dance." (P. Haesaerts, op. cit., p. 33) As Guino had done previously, Morel modeled the reliefs from drawings by the artist, whose hands were arthritic and incapable of working in even the most malleable materials. Renoir planned a further relief depicting a dancing figure wearing a wreath, but he was too ill to continue working on it.