Bacchante with vine leaves
ca. 1872–75
Medium
Terracotta; marble base
Dimensions
Overal (with base): 20 × 15 × 8 in. (50.8 × 38.1 × 20.3 cm); Height (without base): 15 in. (38.1 cm)
Classification
Sculpture
Culture
French
Department
European Sculpture and Decorative Arts
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Fletcher Fund, 1925
Accession Number
25.99
Tags
Art Historical Context
Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux's *Bacchante with Vine Leaves* (ca. 1872–75) captures the wild ecstasy of a follower of Bacchus, the Roman god of wine, adorned with twisting vines and leaves that evoke Dionysian revelry. This intimate terracotta sculpture, standing 15 inches tall on a marble base, showcases a woman's animated face and flowing hair, her expression alive with passion and abandon. Carpeaux, a leading French sculptor of the Second Empire, blended neoclassical precision with romantic vitality, infusing his works with dramatic movement and sensuality. Crafted in terracotta—a versatile, eart...
About the Artist
Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux · 1827–1875
Carpeaux's exuberant work was a decisive break from Neoclassical art. He won the Prix de Rome in 1854 and received many portrait bust commissions from the court. His most famous sculpture group is 'La Danse' (1869) made for the Paris Opéra. So bold is its message of bacchanalian revelry that it was vandalized in protest. French artist.