Bacchanales: The Satyr's Family

Jean-Honoré Fragonard made these four etchings shortly after returning to Paris from Italy, where he studied antique subjects and sculpture. He may have also looked at other sources for inspiration, such as Jacques François Joseph Saly’s suite of vase designs. Though the prints feature the followers of Bacchus, the wine god does not make an appearance. Instead, Fragonard highlighted the playfully erotic frolics, conflicts, and even family life of a group of bacchants, conceiving them as low-relief sculptures on stone fragments within abundant foliage. Fragonard’s creations helped to popularize revelries in nature in French art, architecture, and garden design during the later 1700s.

A horizontally oriented print in black ink depicts a satyr with goat legs and horns, and a nude woman with light skin and wavy hair, crouching on a rectangular stone slab with two infants. The figures look toward the children as large, curved plant stalks arch over the stone. Dense, hatched foliage fills the background. The scene is set within a rectangular border on cream paper with a white margin.

Bacchanales: The Satyr's Family

1763

Jean-Honoré Fragonard

(French, 1732–1806)

France, 18th century

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