 Claude Michel, called Clodion (French, 1738–
1814)
Dancing Bacchante with Cupid, 1785
Terracotta
Purchase, Academy Volunteers Fund, 1981 (4944.1)
Clodion is best known for small-scale terracotta
sculptures like this one. Notably, his career survived
the drastic shift in styles from the playful Rococo to the
relatively staid Neoclassical during the latter 18th
century. Indeed, while the subject matter of this work—
a beautiful and intoxicated female follower of Bacchus,
the god of wine, violently entangled with the god of
erotic love—is solidly rooted in antiquity, its amorous
undertones and dynamic sculptural composition
demonstrate the influence of the Rococo. Clodion
preferred to work for private clients rather than
undertake public commissions (of which only a few
survive), and works like Dancing Bacchante with Cupid
would have decorated the homes of European
aristocracy. |