Bacchanal

This is the first of several versions of Dalou's Bacchanal; it was exhibited at the Royal Academy of Arts, London, in 1879. The relief, showing a drunken orgy, part of the ancient cult of Bacchus, the god of wine, was accepted on loan by the V&A in 1887 from Boehm; his daughter confirmed it as a gift in 1896. Another plaster version was exhibited at the Salon of the Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts in Paris in 1891, and it was subsequently acquired by the Ville de Paris in 1893. It was accessioned by the Musée des Beaux-Arts, Calais, in 1975. The composition was later re-worked in marble (on a slightly larger scale); this version now adorns the Fontaine du Fleuriste at Auteuil, a suburb of Paris, under the title Scène Bacchique. There are several reduced versions of this piece in existence; a unique bronze is now in the Musée d'Orsay, Paris. There is a small plaster version in the Petit Palais, Paris, and another was shown at the exhibition Dalou Inédit at the Galerie Delestre, Paris, in 1978, and is now in a private collection.