Erik Gustav Gothe (d. 1838) who became one of Sweden's most celebrated sculptors, was born in Stockholm, the son of a stone mason, and studied at the Stockholm Academy under Sergel and Desprez. Like his master Sergel, Gothe moved to Paris to continue his studies in 1803, and enrolled in the Ecole des Beaux Arts under the tutelage of the painter Regnault. In 1804 he travelled to Rome where he joined Canova's studio remaining there until 1810. He made his debut in Rome in 1806 with a colossal figure of Meleager, shown throwing a javelin, and in 1808 produced a marble figure of Seated Bacchus. He returned to Stockholm in 1810 having been appointed professor of the Stockholm Academy. In 1822 he was appointed to the Royal Court of St. Petersburg, in Russia, where he produced a marble reclining Bacchante, a marble group of Venus and Cupid and a seated figure of Catherine III. He also modelled a portrait bust of J. P. Martass, the director of the St. Petersburg Academy on whose recommendation he was made an honorary member of the St. Petersburg Academy in 1823. He returned to Stockholm the same year where his work consisted primarily of monuments and portraits of Swedish royalty, aristocracy and contemporary celebrities, the most celebrated of which are his marble bust of Oskar I for Stockholm Castle, and those of the Count and Countess Trolle- Wachmeister,, and the Princess Joséphine. Much of his work is conserved in the museums of Goteborg, Oslo and Stockholm.
The present figure, produced in 1822, is identical to Gothe's marble Seated Bacchus, of 1808, produced while in Rome, and now in the National Museum Stockholm. The composition of the work was much inspired by the Antique bronze of Mercury which had been discovered at Herculaneum in 1758 and was kept in the Royal Palace of Portici, Naples. The sensuousness of this marble figure recalls the work of Canova and the delicate beauty of his garlanded head and graceful languor of his reclining pose his Bacchante and the soft classicism of his Venus and Cupid. Gothe has succeeded in creating a lyrical image of the God of wine and fertility.
A bronze cast of the original figure was sold in these rooms, 15 July 1993, lot 269.