19th Carrier-Belleuse after “The Offering to Bacchus” Marble Group

“The offering to Bacchus”, marble group after the sculpture “La bacchante” made in 1863 by Carrier-Belleuse. French work from the second half of the 19th century.

A sculpted figure of a buxom young woman, intoxicated by the fruits of Bacchus, flirts with a bust of a god on a hermes. Lock eyes with the antique-style carving, but the head of the god, which could be Bacchus or Hermes, seems alive, and he smiles so suggestively in response to his flexible form. Everything rises and falls in sensual curves: the tendrils of ivy; the long plaits of the bacchante floating in the wind; his slender arms which surround and adorn the god’s head with succulent grapes; her dressing gown, neatly tied around her petite waist with a delicate belt and clasp. In 1863, when the work was exhibited at the Paris Salon of that year, the critic Paul Mantz saw in this sculpture what even anyone would recognize today: “M. Carrier has the meaning of life” ( 39).
The original statue was purchased from Carrier-Belleuse by Emperor Napoleon III to place it in the main aisle of the Jardin des Tuileries.

Perfect state of conservation.

Measures
H cm 52
Base cm 21