ITALIAN, 18TH CENTURY STYLE

Details

A TERRACOTTA FIGURE OF BACCHUS
ITALIAN, 18TH CENTURY STYLE
Depicted standing in contrapposto and holding up a shallow cup in his right hand and a bunch of grapes in his left; resting against a tree-trunk support draped with his panther's pelt; on an integrally modelled circular plinth; the surface painted in a later clay slip; flaking to areas of the slip
28 1/8 in. (71.4 cm.) high

Special notice

No VAT will be charged on the hammer price, but VAT at 15% will be added to the buyer's premium which is invoiced on a VAT inclusive basis.

Lot Essay

A statue of the wine-deity Bacchus (Greek Dionysus) was a popular feature of Georgian banqueting dining-rooms, where it alluded to the Roman poet Terence's celebrated adage, that Love (Venus) grows cold without the presence of Wine (Bacchus) and Food (Ceres). At Syon in Middlesex, Hugh Percy, Duke of Northumberland and his architect Robert (Bob the Roman) Adam (d.1792) paired Ceres' statue with a replica of the celebrated Florentine 'Michelangelo' Bacchus. The Renaissance statue's festive tazza-bearing pose inspired the present statue of the drinking deity, who also harvests grapes from a vine-clad tree-trunk over which his lion-pelt garb drapes.

More from Thomas Hope & The Neoclassical Vision & The Collector of Collections

View All