Bacchante on a Panther

1855

William Adolphe Bouguereau

(French, 1825–1905)

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Culture

France, 19th century

Medium

oil on fabric

Measurements

Framed: 87.3 x 127 x 5.4 cm (34 3/8 x 50 x 2 1/8 in.); Unframed: 71.4 x 111.3 cm (28 1/8 x 43 13/16 in.)

Credit Line

Bequest of Noah L. Butkin 1980.238.2

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Location

201 French Neoclassical Painting & Sculpture

Description

Part of a series of six paintings that decorated Etienne Bartholony's house in Paris, these paintings emulate ancient Roman designs. Crisp, cut out forms are set against a gold background painted in imitation of mosaic. Arion was an ancient Greek poet who escaped death by riding away on the back of a sea creature who had been attracted by the poet's song. In the companion picture, a bacchante—a female worshipper of the wine god Bacchus—rides on a panther, the god's symbolic animal. These works were shown at the 1857 Paris Salon exhibition.